Righteous Teacher

Louise Gevers

“Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.”  Psalm 25:8-10

What these beautiful verses tell us about God, after affirming His integrity, is that He is relational and personally teaches us how to live righteously according to His laws. How wonderful is that? To be educated by God Himself who created everything from the very beginning, and put together the most magnificent way to joy and peace, is not an insignificant privilege!

Education and instruction make up an enormous part of our life. The education process starts from the moment of birth between parents and child, and then extends to the wider family and, in time, society. The early years are vital years of instruction in right living in the family, and preparation for going out into the world. Much of our growing up years revolve around being in school where we encounter different influences, so it is really important to have that grounding.

We follow God’s example because His ways are loving and wise and He is the Expert. If God chooses to teach, then education is clearly important. People often flock to hear a speaker who is an expert in his field, whether it is an author, artist, wine-maker, poet, chef, or whatever! They appreciate hearing first hand from the one who has the experience and has created a masterpiece. But who stops to ask how they were inspired? Whatever is achieved is always learnt from the original Mastermind!

God has been calling people for centuries to share His expertise in what matters in life. He doesn’t teach us how to create a tree but He has given us the intelligence to learn how to grow one. What He teaches us is essential because it affects our quality of life: we, as sinners, need to learn His ways and be transformed into people of light. He makes it all accessible to us, but it actually depends on how much we want to learn as to how much we benefit. At school you will always find teachers who prepare so much for a lesson that gets wasted, because of students who don’t want to learn.

God patiently waits for us to learn all His ways too.Why is God “good and upright”? Because He cares that we are uneducated in His ways and as sinners we are lost.

Prayer: Loving LORD, help us to be humble so that we can learn from You and walk in Your ways. Amen