Isaiah 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.
This passage of scripture gives us the assurance that God will teach us personally through His word, and through the guidance and providence of His Holy Spirit, but we must be humble and willing enough to be taught by Him. But because we have been created with intelligence and reasoning powers, it is quite natural for us to draw our conclusions based upon what we know and what we may be persuaded of.
God has no problem with that whatsoever, for He gave us intelligence in the first place, but what He does require, is that when our own preconceived ideas of truth and duty conflict with what is written in the scriptures, that we be willing to surrender our opinions in favor of what is written, for if we cultivate an attitude that is willing to be taught, the sky is the limit as far as knowledge and understanding goes.
There is no point in our experience and learning where we can say we have known everything, for then we will make ourselves as God, and thus it behooves us, when we come to a study of the scriptures, to be ready and willing to concede our ideas if they are incorrect, or else, to be confirmed in the truth if our conclusions are right. With this attitude God can work with us and continually teach us more and more, for our attitude ultimately determines how far up the ladder of knowledge we may climb.
This is one of the main problems king Saul suffered from, for whenever he was reproved by the prophet Samuel for taking a wrong course of action, he would insist that he was right, and because there was no change in his attitude towards the truth, God could not work with him. Let's read:
1st Samuel 15:13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. 14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? 20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
If Saul had been willing to admit wrong when it was pointed out by The Lord through Samuel, God would have forgiven him, and would have taught him the good and right way, but because of his proud and stubborn attitude, God could not work with him, for whenever he needed to be corrected, he would manifest the same stubborn hostility towards the truth. Let's read:
1st Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
A very different at attitude was manifested when king David was confronted with the truth by the prophet Nathan, with a rebuke from The Lord, because of the sins of murder and adultery which had been committed against Uriah and his wife Bathsheba. In this episode we do not see any attempt on David's part to justify himself in a wrong course of action, nor does he dispute what The prophet says, as coming from The lord. He instead humbly bows before The great God, confessing his sin, and not blaming anyone for his errors, and because of his attitude, he was forgiven, and cleansed, and continued to be taught of The Lord. Let's read:
2nd Samuel 12:7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
In our own Christian experiences, we need to be very careful what we do, and how we respond when the truths of God's word are studied, especially at those times when they may cross our paths, or may step on our toes by debunking any preconceived ideas we may have held on any matter in question.
For instance, if we had previously believed that the earth was in existence for millions of years before creation week, and had inadvertently succumbed to the theory of evolution as a result, now when the word of God states explicitly that in six days God created the heavens and the earth, we should then be willing to throw our previous theories into the garbage, that they may die a natural death, rather than stubbornly question the validity of what is written.
With this attitude, God will be able to continually teach us, and there will be no limit on how much we can learn of Him, for then our minds are made susceptible and receptive to whatever God says. We therefore end with a passage of scripture which confirms the learning process to us, if we are humble and willing to be taught of The Lord. Let's read:
Hebrews 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
May God add His blessing to the study and practice of His word. "Good night" and God bless!