Check a minecraft server's difficulty?

Is it possible for me to check what difficulty level is current set to on a vanilla (or almost vanilla) minecraft server?

I do have my own server, and I know I can simply check the server.properties file and restart the server, but is there a way any other players (standard players or OPs) can check the current setting being used on a server?

For example, say another OP changes the difficulty with the /difficulty command, how can I easily check this? I know I could search through the console output, but this isn't too easy with the server that I rent, and could other players determine the current difficulty setting without having to guess based upon gameplay?

Solution 1:

Sadly, there isn't a way to check without the use of external plugins.

Solution 2:

let yourself starve. If you can't starve then it's peaceful. If u remain with 10 hearts (health doesn't drain when starving), it's easy. If you get taken down to 1/2 heart then it's normal. If you die then it's hard.