God Is a Teacher

“Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalm 25:4-5 (NIV)

Recently I was meeting with a friend and she said something that I have said many times.  We were talking about a situation in her life and how she was acknowledging that she was learning something new from the Lord in the midst of it.  And that’s when she said, “I guess I just wasn’t ready to learn this lesson until now.”

Red flags went up in my mind.  The flag of condemnation.  Condemnation that she should have been ready sooner.  Condemnation that she was a slow learner.  Condemnation that she wasn’t good enough or smart enough to figure it out before this.

My response surprised me and made me stop and think differently.  In fact, since that time, I’ve been pondering it.  I believe my response didn’t come from me but instead from the Holy Spirit.

My response was simple and yet so profound, I had to share it with you this morning.

I simply responded, “I don’t think you weren’t ready to learn it.  I think this is the time God chose to teach it to you.  Today is the day it fell on His lesson plans for you.”

That was an ah-ha moment for me.  As a teacher I spend a good bit of time on my lesson plans in the summer.  I like to look at the entire year and map out when I will teach each lesson for every subject.  I make sure that I cover all the material in one year.

My response has me thinking of God in a different light.  In our verses for today David is calling on God to be his teacher.  And remember the disciples and people around Jesus called Him teacher.

I am quick to refer to God as my salvation, my rock, my Savior, my friend, my comforter, but not teacher.  And in fact, He is our teacher and He is teaching us lessons.

He is teaching us lessons on His timetable.  He has a lesson plan for each of us and although sometimes He waits to teach us something after we think we could have already learned it, we must remember His timing is perfect.  God is never late, nor is He early.  God is right on time.

Today, as the Lord teaches you something, I hope you smile because this is the lesson He has for you to learn today.  He’s following His lesson plans for you.