God Teaches His Children

All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13

Scripture speaks often about us being taught by the Lord, and we must realize the every truth we know about God, who he is, what He has done for us, and what He is doing and going to do we have learned by direct teaching from Him. In other words there is nothing we know that is true that he did not teach us. Augustine called this illumination, and God truly is the "Father of Lights."

This is why Jesus says, "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." God has revealed not only truth about who he is but also his plans for the ages. He has shown us that all of history revolves around the fact that He is redeeming a people from this sinful wasteland call humanity. He purchased them with his blood on the cross, raised again for their justification and therefore imputes his righteousness to them. Then after completing all this, He starts his work of sanctifying them, and He is faithful and just to complete the work that He has started in them. And if we have faith we are one of those He has redeemed.

How does all of this tie into Him teaching us? It all ties in because we are not sanctified apart from His truth. The means He uses to sanctify us is His word as His Spirit illuminates our hearts and mind to understand it. This is why He is called the "Spirit of Truth."

What is always amazing is that a one of the things He teaches us, is the very truth that He is teaching us. This is why David in Psalm 25 cries out "teach me thy ways." What He has taught us moves us to call out to Him for more teaching. Which He uses as means to continue to teach us. Another thing He teaches us is that His word is the source of eternal truth as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This causes us to desire more of the word because we know it is essential to our growth. So we dive in daily and in deeper ways than before. And even though in all of this our wills are actively hungering for truth and searching diligently through the treasury of God’s word. We can take no credit in teaching ourselves, for He has been the teacher and illuminator of the entire process.

What about you? Is God teaching you even at this moment to call out to Him and ask Him to continue to teach you His ways, or to spend more time in His word? If, by faith, you are His child and He is teaching you one of these two things, He is either getting ready to bless you by driving you to the scriptures to teach you. Or, if He allows you to neglect these promptings, He may be getting ready to teach you the folly of not heeding what He has taught you, so that next time you will dive into the scriptures. Either way He is continuing to bless us by completing the work He has started in us.

Let us all be driven to His word to be taught of the Lord today, and great will be our peace.

The things I know

He has taught to me.
And as I grow

I continue to see.

For by God’s grace

I now have salvation
And now can trace
His illumination.

-Doug Eaton-