Teach me (4)

In my previous blog post we looked at David's prayer as recorded in Psalms 27:11: Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me.

Whether we find ourselves in a military war (as David did), a spiritual war, or an emotional war... it is good to pray David's prayer. We often do the opposite, we pray for the enemy to go away... the pain, the hurt, the sickness, the fear.

But the enemy will pop up somewhere else or in a different form. 👉Asking God to teach us HOW to live, despite the enemies in this world, requires a different level of faith.

When we ask the Lord to teach us, we open ourselves up to do life His way instead of our way and that brings us to another one of David's psalms.

Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you ( Psalm 86:11).

Awesome! That I may live according to God's truth, not according to the lies the world is hurling at us day after day! I don't even want to hear them anymore.

And then David adds a very personal request. The request for purity of heart, something that honors God. Oh, may it be our prayer as well. Let's get rid of the energy-draining contamination of the world.

Teach us Your ways!

Teach me (3)

'What if we would fill up on spiritual truth instead of earthly knowledge?' I asked in my previous blog. Earthly knowledge can be acquired through reading, listening, learning, and experiencing.

We receive spiritual truth basically through revelation upon reading, hearing, believing, and doing the Word of God.

Could this be the difference between 'tell me' and 'teach me', I wonder? When we say 'tell me what I need to know, tell me what I need to do, tell me what to say', we expect pre-packaged answers and quick (easy) instructions.

When we say 'teach me how to live' for example, we cannot expect a short answer, we rather prepare to commence on a journey. We can find the cry 'teach me' numerous times in the Psalms. For example in Psalms 27:11,

Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me.

Now David was involved in military warfare as well as spiritual warfare. So, however we look at this, I believe we can still learn from the cry of his heart. No matter whether we find ourselves surrounded by enemies of flesh and blood, by powers and principalities, or both... we need to be led along the right path, so we won't perish.

Enemies are waiting for us, all the time. We can pray for them to go away, but they'll pop up somewhere else or in a different form. Let's pray as David prayed: Teach me how to live, O Lord!

Teach us how to live in a crazy world that You loved enough to share Your precious Son with, our Prince of Peace.

Teach me (2)

Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

I love that verse (Psalm 90:12)! In order to grow in wisdom, the cry of our hearts must be 'teach me!' This basically means admitting that we do not have the answers to all of today's issues and problems.

Society today expects us to have strong opinions, to take sides, to understand complicated matters, and to know the politically 'correct' responses to every occurring problem.

Despite all the drama and confusion in our world today, many people do not believe the Bible could be relevant and useful in order to keep us on the right path. But what was written two thousand years ago has eternal value. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says:

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 👉God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

This earth could be filled with good, benevolent works (which would make it a much better place if you ask me) if we would be open to the instructions the Bible gives us. We need to be taught to do right, because human nature wants to do wrong.

Just look at little children... we often regard them as innocent, but parents have to teach children to do right, while the wrong things come naturally (being jealous, selfish, disobedient, etc.). This is because we are born with a sinful nature, in desperate need of forgiveness and change!

What if we would fill up on spiritual truth instead of earthly knowledge? What if...?