"Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear."
Isaiah 28:9-12
This is interesting as kind of a description of how God teaches us. So often we want really complex and deep revelations from God, but we are unwilling to listen to or accept the basics. And we argue that it doesn't matter, and that we still want it, but it is like a kindergartner trying to jump into a PhD program. There are prerequisites, and we don't have them, and unless we listen to God and learn some faith and obedience, and get the underlying structure and understanding and context for what we are looking for, we're never going to get those deeper answers that we so desperately want, and wouldn't understand them even if they were in front of us, which they likely are.
If we want answers from God, then we have to accept him as a teacher, and make a covenant with him, to listen to him and to obey him, because that is the only way we are going to get where we're going. It's Karate Kid and waxing the car, right? We might not understand why now, but we are learning the skills that we need to understand the bigger concepts, and to be the better and stronger people that we can be.
Today, let's try not to get impatient with God, but instead recognize that it takes time and effort and a lot of practice to learn what God offers us. He isn't trying to keep it from us--he is only trying to prepare us so that we can learn and understand and do more. He is offering us everything that we can handle, and all we have to do to get more is accept what we already have and incorporate it into our lives... and then more and more will be added until we run out of brainspace. :)
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear."
Isaiah 28:9-12
This is interesting as kind of a description of how God teaches us. So often we want really complex and deep revelations from God, but we are unwilling to listen to or accept the basics. And we argue that it doesn't matter, and that we still want it, but it is like a kindergartner trying to jump into a PhD program. There are prerequisites, and we don't have them, and unless we listen to God and learn some faith and obedience, and get the underlying structure and understanding and context for what we are looking for, we're never going to get those deeper answers that we so desperately want, and wouldn't understand them even if they were in front of us, which they likely are.
If we want answers from God, then we have to accept him as a teacher, and make a covenant with him, to listen to him and to obey him, because that is the only way we are going to get where we're going. It's Karate Kid and waxing the car, right? We might not understand why now, but we are learning the skills that we need to understand the bigger concepts, and to be the better and stronger people that we can be.
Today, let's try not to get impatient with God, but instead recognize that it takes time and effort and a lot of practice to learn what God offers us. He isn't trying to keep it from us--he is only trying to prepare us so that we can learn and understand and do more. He is offering us everything that we can handle, and all we have to do to get more is accept what we already have and incorporate it into our lives... and then more and more will be added until we run out of brainspace. :)
This was very helpful. Thank you. VJ
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