“Teach me your ways, O Lord,
that I may live according to your truth!
Grant me purity of heart,
so that I may honour you.”
Psalms 86:11 NLT
How do we learn? What do we learn? Why do we learn? Questions that sit at the very heart of our lives. For unless we learn what we need for life, we will be woefully ill-equipped to make our way through the minefields that exists between the cradle and the grave. In our early years, our parents taught us the basics. School teachers added their weight and learning in our formative years. But unless we are receptive to what we are taught, we will continually bounce off the obstacles that will come our way, becoming damaged in the process. How many times have I thought, when observing the struggles of someone I know, “You never seem to learn”. Sadly, that sometimes applies to me as well.
We all walk a road through life. Sometimes there are mountain top experiences, where we find that life is wonderful and good. But at other times we walk through a valley, dark and dismal. Full of misery and depression. Through these experiences we learn, so that the next time we encounter life-trials, we know how to face into them.
The ultimate and best Teacher is God through His Spirit. And we have a text book to help us, the Bible. The wonderful thing is that it is full of truth. Not someone’s opinion. Not a series of subjective thoughts. But Truth, because God is Truth. The teachings contained within the Holy Scriptures may not be easy reading. They may be opposite to what our human nature desires. But we reject them at our peril. Many people have made a “rod for their own backs” by ignoring Biblical teaching. We look on at our political leaders and see the mess they create when they choose to follow their own desires and not God’s desires, as set out in His Words in the Bible. There is another amazing fact about our Heavenly Teacher – “…God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5 NIVUK). So to turn that around, God said that He is always with us. On the mountain tops but also in the valleys. Encouraging us. Teaching us. From the cradle to the – hang on – He will never leave us. Ever.
Being a Pilgrim 