God's Schooling

I went to see friend of mine who is in a retirement center but still active in his walk with the Lord. He was sharing with me about the influence his Bible school teacher had on his life fifty years ago. The teacher would start out his class with some statement that we would probably call a golden nugget. Something that will change the way we think. Before one class the teacher said this, "I know you are all here to learn homiletic and hermeneutics but I want you to enroll in the school of the knowledge of God. I want you to get the know the God of the Bible." That night my friend went home and said, "Wow, I just don't want to know the Bible but I want to know the Author of it." He knelt and prayed that God would enroll his life in the school of the knowledge of God and his life was transformed. God sent my friend to over fifty countries to peach the Good News about Christ, pastor and plant churches, be a missionary himself, and sit on several presbytery boards of our fellowship. He also saw countless thousands respond to the gospel and many filled with the Holy Spirit throughout his years. I recently read about our world being filled with insecurity and uncertainty so we must all learn to walk by faith. Regardless of how old we are or how long we have walked with the Lord. Living by faith means obeying the Scriptures in spite of our feelings, circumstances, or consequences. It means holding on to God's truth no matter how heavy the burden may seem or how dark the outlook may be. It's trusting God through thick and thin. The only way we could possibly do this is by enrolling ourselves in the school of the knowledge of God. Knowing God and trusting Him through it all. Even though I have walked with God for forty years now, I went home that evening and asked God to enroll me in the school of the knowledge of God. I want to keep my spirit teachable at all times and keep learning about the One I love so much. So here I am again in school with the Bible as my textbook and the Holy Spirit as my teacher. I wonder what the Lord is going to teach me through the next forty years. This is exciting!