10/22/2026
Do we sit at the feet of Jesus? Do we look towards God for the wisdom and knowledge we require to make it through each day? If we quickly answered yes, then let’s consider these three additional questions... Are we humble in our learning, do we wait on the Lord to reveal himself to us in good time, and finally, do we suffer in this effort?
“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”
Psalms 25:4-5 ESV
Reading the Bible is a wonderful thing for us to do, and many of us try to read it “religiously” each year in its entirety. We do this for various reasons, but when we look at what motivates us we find three main reasons... to teach ourselves, to allow God to teach and reveal Himself to us, and as a form of penitence. In considering each of these reasons I ask again; are you reading God’s Word humbly, and are you waiting all day long for God to teach you. Is a year the right amount of time to set for reading through the Bible, or is there even a right amount of time at all?
“He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.”
Psalms 25:9 ESV
We are all familiar with schools, after all we attended them for years as we grew up. We also know that there are good schools, and not so good schools. Why is this so? Why is it that one school turns out students who are achieving at a high level while others do not? I believe it boils down to three motivations.
1. Are we there to teach ourselves; is our desire to learn based on using our own ability and dedication to master the task as we wrestle every fact and skill from the opportunity, or is the desire to learn lacking in us. Do we find ourselves unmotivated, and disinterested or are we starving for knowledge?
2. Are we there to listen to the teacher and be taught or is our expectation that our teachers take their knowledge and force it into us like cake icing through the small slit in the end of a pastry bag. Do we expect that when we need to learn a difficult lesson that our teacher will simply apply more pressure to the pastry bag of wisdom?
3. And lastly, are we there to simply pay our dues... to suffer through the process, and to glean any knowledge we receive as a byproduct of having been there? Are we going through the motions with just enough effort to get by as we suffer the misery of being in school? Is suffering somehow the lesson we learn? Well, lest we judge suffering too quickly; is enduring suffering a total loss? No, suffering can be fruitful in its own way...
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,”
Romans 5:3-4 ESV
So, we have good schools and bad schools, but essentially it comes down to two key factors... the first rests with the teachers and their ability to teach and lead students into more than simply learning a subject, but into realizing what it takes to learn that subject. And secondly it rests on the students and their motivation for being there, and their ability to understand the first lesson taught by their teachers which was how to learn.
You might have noticed that I used the word “rests” in describing these two actions because that word implies a process that involves waiting... time... and peacefulness. Teachers must wait on their students to understand, and students must wait on the knowledge of the teachers to be taught to them.
“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”
Isaiah 30:18 ESV
Our public schools are not designed to do this today... their time is limited, money is limited, and society needs the young workers they produce right now. So, we squeeze the pastry bag of wisdom harder, and hope that the icing on the cake looks pretty in the end.
Teachers are products of these schools themselves, so they have not been taught to teach the skill of “resting” or “waiting”. The ones who have come upon this method have done so by way of a personal epiphany, and in this way have become teachers that end up instructing at the peak of their ability; an ability that was not taught to them by the system itself. These teachers find a way to educate a diverse population of students who each learn at different speeds, and to open them up individually to learning by utilizing their own personal humility and caring as the tool.
In the end, brilliant students succeed in today’s schools despite the system’s shortcomings simply because of their natural intelligence or their ability to overcome the system itself. And successful teachers teach well because, by some luck of the draw, they end up with a “good class” or their own personality happens to lead students to listen by its very nature. They have simply learned to squeeze the bag in just the right way.
These educational dynamics apply to how we learn in faith as well. Ask yourself why certain apostles seemed to stand out in the Bible? Is it because Jesus taught them differently? In the end were some taught to preach the gospel well while others were not? No, they each learned at different speeds, and Jesus patiently taught them all at the rate, and in a manner, that suited their individual ability to learn. None passed the test while others failed. In the end they all succeeded in understanding what Jesus had for them to receive, yet truthfully some needed to wait on the Holy Spirit before achieving this fully. Do we give up too soon on our biblical studies? Do we stop waiting before the Holy Spirit has arrived to deliver our lessons to full effect?
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
John 14:26 ESV
So, we should Humble ourselves, and remember that we are not taking what God has, no, he is giving it to us, teaching us. Let’s wait on Him... because God desires that we learn from Him, and He will feed us what we are prepared or able to eat at that precise moment. He feeds us when it will benefit us, and His will, the most. Then finally we should be prepared to endure suffering... because some lessons are best learned through hardship and the endurance of our human condition. Let’s always remember that none of God’s children will fail if they will remain focused on Him in all that they do, and humbly wait on Him.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your instruction each day of my life. Thank you Lord for teaching me patience, for showing me that if I wait humbly on you that you will lead me to knowledge and wisdom in your Word. Thank you Holy Father for enlightening me to the fact that there is nothing I can take from you other than what you are prepared to give me. This is the ultimate lesson of humility Father... that I cannot understand you on my own, or by my intelligence. So, I thank you Merciful Father for your Holy Spirit that allows me to remember, and understand, and who teaches me those lessons you have prepared for me. But most of all Father I thank you for the greatest lesson of them all... to patiently lean on you for understanding, and that whether I read your Word once in my lifetime, or hundreds of times, you will not let me fail in my understanding, nor in receiving your wisdom as it applies to my life. Great are you my God, and greater is your wisdom than that of all men. Holy, Holy, Holy are you the giver and teacher of life and knowledge. Praised be your name always!
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.”
Proverbs 3:5-7 ESV
Amen!
Rich Forbes