TEACH ME:

TEACH ME:

“If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you…” -Exodus 33:13

One of the most powerful, humble, transformative, and impactful prayers we can pray to God is, “Teach me.”

Three of the some of the most well known people we know in the Bible prayed that exact prayer in times of turmoil, difficulty, and testing.

MOSES: In Exodus 33:13 Moses prayed that prayer 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 contemplated rejecting Israel altogether, starting over with Moses, (32:7-10) and was about to abandon them (33:3) saying, “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 literally nothing to distinguish Israel from all the other nations/peoples of the world. Not the 10 Commandments, not their hairstyle, not their garments, not their history, their pain, not even their genealogical tie to Abraham - NOTHING! So Moses stepped in and implored God, “Teach me!”

Because of Moses’ humility and love for God and His people we read the LORD’s response in 32:14, “Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened,” and in 33:14, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

JOB: One of my favorite books of the Bible is Job. Here is a man who has no idea that the satan (accuser/adversary) had approached God wanting to lead someone into sin by rejecting and renouncing God. Then in the opening chapter we read that God confidently offers up Job (1:8). “Then the LORD said to satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?”

Satan is given permission to tempt Job and 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. Then satan is given permission to terrorize Job’s own body. Job is afflicted with painful sores from head-to-toe and in the midst of it his wife says, "Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!"

Eventually Job, like us, wonders what he has done to deserve this tragedy, torment, and suffering in life! All the while, Job (unlike the reader/audience), is clueless that satan’s primary objective is to get him to spurn and deny God! But instead of rejecting, renouncing, spurning, or denying God we read in Job 6:24: “Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.”

In chapters 38-41 God speaks directly to Job. God does not give Job an explanation (which we the audience are privy to, i.e. satan’s desire to get us to curse and reject God), but God speaks of His personal involvement in the beauty, complexity, and sheer wonder of intimately sustaining the Universe!

Job’s response is basically, “My bad.” Seriously, in 42:3 Job says “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” In the midst of loss, turmoil, suffering, heartache, depression, abandonment, and horrific pain Job implored and beseeched God “Teach me!”

And God did just that.

DAVID: 16 of the 19 times the phrase “Teach me” appears in the Bible (according to the NIV) are in the Psalms.   Not all 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.

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Whether you are someone who has lost a loved one, someone struggling with sin and addiction, a leader in ministry who is feeling defeated and abandoned, someone about to lose your job or home, a parent struggling to find work to support your family, someone on the verge of suicide - wondering if anything in life even matters... Hear this and 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!”

When God opens your eyes and answers that prayer from a humble and receptive heart - then implore God to do the same for others and make people receptive to His teaching just as David did in Psalm 24:9-10

Lift up your head, O you gates;

be lifted up you ancient doors,

that the King of Glory may come in.

Who is this king of Glory?

Let our prayer ever be, "Teach me Lord God Almighty and King of Glory! Teach me!"

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley

aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com

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