Teach Me

Teach Me:

One of the most powerful and humbling prayers you can pray to the LORD is, “Teach me.” Three of the most prominent people you know in the Bible prayed that prayer in times of turmoil, difficulty, and testing.

MOSES: In Exodus 33:13 Moses said to God, “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you…” Because of the Israelites monumental rejection of God with the ‘Golden Calf’ fiasco, the Lord God was about to abandon them saying in 33:3, “But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.” Moses stepped up in this time of testing and understood that apart from God’s presence there was nothing (of value) that distinguished Israel from all the other nations/peoples of the world, so Moses implored God, “Teach me!”

JOB: One of my favorite books of the Bible is Job. Here is a man who has no idea that Satan had approached God wanting to lead someone into blasphemy against God. The LORD actually offered Job up to Satan. From Job 1:8, “Have you considered my servant Job?” Satan is then given permission to tempt Job, and he does so by killing and destroying everything that is near & dear to Job… his flocks, his cattle, ALL of his children in one fell swoop. Job’s wife even turns on him. Then Job is afflicted with painful sores from head-to-toe. Job, like us, wonders what he has done to ‘deserve’ this tragedy in his life! All the while, Job (unlike the readers of the story), is clueless that Satan’s objective is to get him to spurn and deny God! Instead of rejecting, renouncing, spurning, or denying God – In Job 6:24 Job calls out to God and says, “Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.” Ultimately, in Ch.38, God speaks to Job – not to give him an explanation (which we the audience are privy to! – Satan’s temptation unto blasphemy), instead God speaks of His involvement in the beauty, complexity, and sheer wonder of intimate sustaining work in the Universe! Job’s response is, “My bad.” Seriously, in 42:3 Job says “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” Job implored and beseeched God “Teach me!”, and God did.

DAVID: 16 of the 19 times “Teach me” appears in the Bible are in the Psalms. Not all of these are from David, but many are. Here are just a few:

Ps 25:5 guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior,

and my hope is in you all day long.

Ps 27:11 Teach me your way, O LORD?

lead me in a straight path

because of my oppressors.

Ps 51:6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;

you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Ps 86:11 Teach me your way, O LORD,

and I will walk in your truth;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.

Ps 119:12 Praise be to you, O LORD?

teach me your decrees.

Ps 119:26 I recounted my ways and you answered me;

teach me your decrees.

Whether you are a parent who has lost a child, a youth who is struggling with sin, a leader who is desperately dependent on God, a couple about to lose your home, a man struggling to find work to support your family, someone on the verge of suicide and wondering if anything in life even matters...

Know that God answers prayers and one of the most powerful, intimate, heart-felt, sincere prayers you can ever pray is to crave for God to “Teach me!”

Implore God to reveal Himself and to teach others through the testimony of your life, prayers, and praise - just as David did in Psalm 24:

Lift up your head, O you gates;

(make yourself available and open to God!)

be lifted up you ancient doors,

(rusted shut and nearly immovable)

that the King of Glory may come in.

(God won’t force himself, but he desperately desires to come into your life!)

Teach me, King of Glory, come in and teach me.

Blessings,

-Kevin