Teach Me….

Today I am going to be touching upon three verses that really stood out to me this week, two of which are by Moses and one by King David. The common thread between these verses that God used to point something out to me this week is… Teach me.

Exodus 33:13 “Teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favour with you.”

Psalm 86:11 “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

Psalm 90:12 “Teach us to number our days, aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

God is always teaching us something, but the question is how teachable are we? Through anything that we go through, a teachable heart is essential. We always wish for quick deliverance from any challenge but it is in those challenges that when we present a teachable attitude that we learn so much from Him and our roots of faith go deeper in Him.

Teach me your ways Lord so that I may know you and continue to find favour with you – what a wonderful request!

Moses knew God intimately and yet longed to know more about Him, be closer to Him, be more attuned to His will and His ways so that He would walk in accordance with God’s plans and purposes for Him. What a powerful and profound desire and request.

I want the Lord to teach me His ways too but do I stay committed in my desire to know Him more? Let me reiterate that we are not perfect and we will falter but let our commitment be beyond a fleeting moment of surge of emotion.

We read in Luke 2:41-52, that when Mary and Joseph went along with Jesus when he was 12 years old for the festival of the Passover to Jerusalem, Jesus stayed behind at the temple while they were returning home and they were unaware of it. Although they go back and find Jesus teaching at the temple, they were anxious because he was not with them- they had left him behind.

How often do we do that? Leave Jesus behind as we get caught up in going about our day. With the distractions of the day, all that we need to get done, in our hurriedness, do we take our eyes away from Him, leave Him behind and neglect to walk with Him throughout the day.

Moses in this verse teaches us to not settle with how much we know Him, but to keep on knowing Him. Ask HIM to teach us, to spend time with HIM and get to know more and more about Him. What a blessing and joy it is to have our relationship with God taken deeper and in new and exciting ways.

Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

The first part of this verse speaks of David’s need to learn God’s ways, so that he would walk obediently in God’s truth. The second part of the verse speaks of his desire to have undivided devotion to God. His desire is to have a heart that is stayed upon the Lord, that is not fragmented in his attention and devotion to God. Not wanting a heart yearning for things of this world.

The things of this world can snuff out our good intentions and commitment of drawing closer to God. The worries, the attractions and temptations of this life can lurk like weeds below a surface of good soil and spring up and divide our hearts and divert our attention.

When I think of an undivided heart – Daniel comes to mind. His devotion and commitment to God did not waver or change when he was in Babylon. He did not forget God in the face of fear or death. No desire for status in name or wealth deterred him from being faithful to God. Daniel’s strength came from a clarity in knowing and desiring only God. There was no room for the things of his world to fragment his dedication and worship to God.

May we like David pray to know God’s ways, to not be scattered in our desires, our priorities and our worship. And like Daniel have an undivided heart for the things of God.

Teach us to number our days, aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90, was penned by Moses, a man of God, whom God spoke face to face (Numbers 12:7-8). Moses personally witnessed God performing many mighty miracles. Besides these wonderful signs, he also felt the sting of God’s punishment when he would not be allowed to enter the promised land because his action did not reflect a trust in God (Numbers 20:11).

Moses acknowledges that our days are in God’s hand and reiterated how important it is for us to live with the perspective that our days are fleeting. When we realise that the number of days in our life here are deciduous in comparison to the numberless days of eternity, it changes our perspective on the futility of storing treasures here on earth instead of those that have eternal value.

What are we investing our time in – wealth, status, name, followers, fame, sports, social media?

May we remember that our days are numbered. Moses asks the Lord to teach him to number our days aright. This punctuates that we are not to get caught up with obsessing over the exact number of days we have to live. Instead of counting our days here, make them count for eternity. This is a life changing attitude that comes from God and it has to be learned.

Moses asks this of God so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Heart of wisdom – I usually do not right away connect the heart with wisdom, more likely I would connect it with emotion.

Psalm 37:4 says: Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Your heart is your seat of desires, what does your heart desire?

The Proverbs counsel “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23)

Moses mentions the purpose of learning to number our days- to gain a heart of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).  To fear God is absolute reverence and awe for Almighty God, who created everything including you and me. Making us recognise that our God is not only a loving God but also a just God and there are going to be consequences for our choices and our actions. God not allowing Moses to enter the promised land was one such consequence that we can learn from.

A heart of wisdom – as we draw closer to God, may He bless us with a heart of wisdom, that is filled with desire not for things of this world but of things above.

As I spent time with these three verses this week;

God Bless.