Teach Me

Do you ever get demanding? Be honest. Sometimes, when you and I are at our weakest, we will tell God how things ought to be. We will let him know what he must do if he is going to meet our approval. And when we do this, we are clearly missing biblical truth.

In Psalm 25, we see the psalmist pray that God will help him to know his ways better. And in doing so, I think we are reminded of the perfection of God’s plan.

Psalm 25:4-5

4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.

It is the line in verse 5 that got my attention as I read through this psalm. “You are the God of my salvation.” What a glorious truth. God, the only God, the one true God, is the God of my salvation. There is only one God. We have no other way of salvation.

O, I know, this is elementary stuff, but it really matters. When we think about the word of God and the truth of eternity, we need to remember that there is only one God. So often, the person put off by the claim of exclusive salvation in Christ has allowed himself or herself to reason as if there really are other ways out there. They assume that there are other gods we could follow. They assume that there are other ways that Christians just do not acknowledge. But, and this is vital, there are not.

Before David declared God to be the God of his salvation, he prayed that God would teach him. He wants God to show him his ways. HE wants God to teach him his truth. David knows that, apart from God’s teaching, he will miss it. If God does not reveal himself to us, we will assume that we know everything and can reason out how the world should run. We are wrong.

The big problem that many of us face is that, in our sinfulness, we think that we can tell God what God’s ways should be. We stop praying that God would teach us his ways. Instead, we tell God that we have concluded that this or that ought to be his ways. WE tell God how we think we would have done things were we the ones in charge.

But to tell God what God ought to do is foolish. You do not have all the knowledge God has. You are warped in your sin and cannot measure morality as God does in his holiness. And, the simple fact is, you are not the God who created the universe. You did not create the stars and planets, the people and the animals, to display your glory. You did not shape people for your purposes. So how in the world could you think that you have the ability to tell the Creator how things should be? This is hubris.

What is right is what we see the psalmist do. He prays, asking God to teach him his ways. He declares God to be the God of his salvation. And he waits on the Lord. The psalmist knows that he is not God. He knows that he does not know everything or understand everything. He instead relies on God for salvation, and he waits for God to take action and reveal truth in God’s own perfect timing.