Who God Teaches

"Who is the man that fears the LORD? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. ¹³ He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. ¹⁴ The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant."

Psalm 25:12-14

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and Jesus Christ is wisdom for us.  His wisdom is infinite and absolute yet God chooses unique ways to teach every person.  Unlike a school environment where the course curriculum is set and all students take the same exams, God teaches each of His children in the way He chooses.  It is awesome how God individually tailors the way He instructs us though His Word does not change.  We read the same Bible and see the same sun rise and set every day but the way He teaches you is different to how He teaches me.  The scripture assures us the man who fears the LORD shall be taught by God.

In an attempt to be efficient and ensure the necessary information is conveyed and understood many schools and countries have standardised tests.  When we walk in the fear of the LORD and place our faith in Him the wealth of God's wisdom is opened to us.  The souls to whom God has revealed His covenant through the Gospel will prosper now and forever.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:7-9, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. ⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. ⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."  God is the source of divine mercy, purity, and peace.  The only way a man can meet the conditions to be blessed in these ways is to be born again through faith in Jesus Christ, and having been born again God makes us to grow.

It is amazing how fast infants begin to develop and grow, gain awareness, dexterity, and discover their finger and toes.  Slowly they gain strength to hold their heads up, roll over, sit up by themselves, crawl and walk.  Their personality begins to shine through and it is delightful for a parent to observe the process.  What the future holds for our children largely is a mystery, but our future is not a mystery to God.  He created our personality and knows what He is preparing us to do.  We do not always understand why God allows trials and difficulties in our lives, what He possibly could be accomplishing through lessons we would rather avoid.  Teachers are powerless to teach the student who skips school but not God--as Jonah learned in the belly of a great fish.

Do you trust God to teach you and others in the way He chooses?  Clothing is not "one size fits all" and the same God teaches His children in different ways.  Praise the LORD the good lessons He teaches us are applicable to others and provide encouragement to fear the LORD.  As we walk with Jesus He is faithful to teach us many things.  To celebrate a revelation from God is to rejoice in Him, and God delights in this prosperous soul.

Commit Your Way to the LORD

The Bible provides God's wisdom for life.  God graciously provides blessing to those who seek Him and obey His Word.  Psalm 37:3-5 says, "Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. ⁴ Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. ⁵ Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."  Trusting in God and faithful reliance upon Him to supply our needs now and for the future are central themes in scripture.

David's exhortation to trust in the LORD hearkens back to the goodness of God in the past and present.  God who fed them in the wilderness provided them land as an inheritance where they flourished.  Those who delighted themselves in the LORD would have desires which aligned with the One who delights to do good and save.  The Word He provided would be a lamp unto their feet and a light unto their path to show the right way to live.  David urged, "Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."

The definition of the Hebrew word translated "commit" may surprise you.  The Strong's concordance says it means, "to roll (literal or figurative), commit, remove, roll (away, down, together)."  Webster's 1828 Dictionary says (among many options) it is:  "to give in trust; to put into the hands or power of another; to entrust; to put into any place for preservation; to deposit."  A "commital" is a traditional part of a funeral service, to commit the deceased to the earth or sea.  When a person commits a crime they are irreversibly guilty of breaking the law.  David says to commit your way to the LORD as we trust Him to sovereignly guide us.  Psalm 37:23 reveals the one whose ways is committed to God:  "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way."

In 10-pin bowling, a heavy ball is rolled from a distance to knock down pins and score points.  60 feet from the pins there is a foul line the bowler's feet are not permitted to cross.  Once a bowler reaches the foul line the ball must be released from the hand.  It might be tempting to walk past the line and roll the ball at point-blank range to improve a result, but that is not bowling:  one must aim at the mark, commit the ball to the lane, and trust the ball to hook into the pocket for a strike.  To commit is to release and roll away from us, and that is something we can be loathe to do.  We like to have control and affect an outcome for our benefit.  We feel uneasy to trust God and our grubby hands clutch our ways, foolishly thinking we know more and do better than God.  We would love to cut corners off the course God has set for us to run to reach the end more speedily.  Yet when we hold on in unbelief we can disqualify ourselves from God's gracious blessings.

Proverbs 16:9 dovetails well with the conditional promises in Psalm 37:  "A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps."  Because God has given each person a will of their own there will always be tension between our will and God's will, between our responsibility and God's sovereignty.  The man whose steps are ordered by God in whom He delights trusts in Him, delights in God, and commits his way to the LORD.  The way we commit our way unto the LORD is to trust and obey Him.  There is only so much that depends upon us, and even our dependence upon God is by the grace of God.  The one who trusts God and commits his way to the LORD in faith will ultimately enjoy a favourable outcome in God's time and way.  After all, what is more favourable than our faithful God delighting in us?

The Beloved

Regardless of what country, city, church or family you belong to, there will always be people doing the wrong thing--and sometimes that person will be me or you.  I do not point this out to justify sin or hypocrisy or pride but that these are endemic to mankind.  It takes one to know one it is said, and often this is true.  But no matter how wrong we believe others are, we are called as Christians to do what it right in following Christ's example.  He taught His followers to pray for their enemies, and when He prayed all night it suggests He had a lot of them.

God will someday judge all the ungodly of the earth for their words and deeds against Him, and the ones deemed godly are only by the grace and mercy of God by faith in Jesus Christ.  Jude 1:16-21 says, "These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. ¹⁷ But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁸ how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹ These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

The words of Jude hearken back to what Jesus told Peter when he asked about John:  "What is that to you?  You follow me."  Our prayers can focus on all we see that is wrong with people or the world:  "Lord, there are complainers and arrogant boasters!  There are deceivers and greedy looters!"  To such troubled souls God's Word directs us to introspection and sanctification:  "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."  The ungodly actions and words of others work to prompt us to focus on edifying ourselves in faith in Jesus, prayer, to intentionally walk in love, and look for the mercy of our LORD Jesus Christ.  It is we who have a life beyond this world worthy of rejoicing, for we are not our own.  We are God's treasured possession and inheritance, and no one can snatch us out of His hand.

There will be grumblers but I should not join them; there will be complainers yet you should refuse to be numbered among them.  There will be those who walk according to their own lusts who speak with pride and flattery and cause divisions:  let us walk according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the exhortation of scripture.  Beloved brothers and sisters, let us keep ourselves in the love of God--even when the love of others grows cold.  Being beloved of God we are able to freely love others as God loves us.

The Thin Wedge Edge

“What a mercy it is when the preacher knows that his Master is coming after him, when he can hear the sound of his Master’s feet behind him! What courage it gives him! He knows that, though it is very little that he can do, he is the thin end of the wedge preparing the way for One who can do everything.”

C.H. Spurgeon as quoted in the Bible Knowledge Commentary

When I was a teen I enjoyed the challenge of splitting wood. It was one of the chores I rushed to do, too impatient to allow the wood adequate time to dry! Many times one wedge was completely buried in a log of wet wood, and a second was needed to remove it. I always enjoyed the "Lumberjack Show" at Sea World and splitting wood by hand was an opportunity to use tools and to do what seemed grown-man work. The steel wedges we used did not need to be sharp to split the wood when the force of a sledgehammer wielded by uncoordinated youths was applied to them.

I love the illustration Spurgeon employs because it is very true. Our ability and strength to do God's work does not rest in us but in the God who fills believers with the Holy Spirit. If you want something lifted or wood split or a jar opened you look for someone with a little muscle, and God supplies all the power needed to do His work with joy. The "thin end" of the wedge needs to be sharpened, and we too require spiritual maintenance to operate to our full potential. The idea of people and nations being a tool in God's hand is clear in scripture and a notable example is found in Jeremiah 51:20 in reference to King Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon: "You are My battle-ax and weapons of war: for with you I will break the nation in pieces; with you I will destroy kingdoms..." God does everything but He often employs people to do His will and fulfill His purposes.

Jesus sent out His followers to prepare people to receive Him in Luke 10 with the intent to follow after those He sent as lambs among wolves. On their own they could do nothing--like a wedge of steel lying on the ground. Having trusted and obeyed Jesus God would use them to cause Satan to fall like lightning from the sky with their proclamation of the Gospel. Sent out two-by-two they were sharpened and steeled to face opposition, to joyfully minister God's peace to all. Their confidence was not in their pitch or technique but was in Christ who can do everything. Those who make Christ their confidence can do so rejoicing, knowing we will not barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of God in His service. We can do all things Jesus directs us to do through Him, for it is He who does the work.