Devotional Essay thru Psalm 27, Part VII:  Teach Me Your Way, O Lord!

There was once a monk in medieval times of who it was said that he was in possession of the accumulated knowledge of the day.  There was no fact of which he was unaware.  Hard to believe; yes, and undoubtedly a gross exaggeration; still, it is a far more realistic possibility than amidst today’s climate of exploding vistas and data-bases of fact.

I think of books and of the old card-file drawers (works of exquisite and utilitarian artistry!) in which card upon card itemized the book by name, author, publishing house, date of publication and Dewey decimal system number – Heaven; at least to me, will house a library as vast as the universe with varnished, antique card-file drawers filled with bits of knowledge and books pertaining to an infinite myriad of subjects!

Knowledge explodes daily, quietly (we go about our lives utterly unaware, busy as we are with what is on our daily plates), but effectively, as we will come to experience, for better or worse, the fruit or poison of such growing data.  Our forbears once knew a budding era of exploration.  Others were alive amidst a burgeoning time of Revolution.  Today; building upon the preceding 200 years, it’s the era of Information or of Knowledge.

And we have become a society of know-it-alls; if you haven’t noticed!  Modern society has given spawn to an entirely new breed of humanity – the “expert.”  They prance and prattle every day on television and radio.  They advise the prevailing powers.  They’re so smart, as are we all today.

Children; especially, are whippersnapper smart.  They embrace the dogma they are fed and instinctively think they are smarter than adults.  Perhaps they are, but so what?  We should be teaching children how to think and how to feel – to think beyond their own selves and to feel the lot of others.  We should be making them vitally aware of the Lord God and of His law, let alone of His gracious gift of salvation.  Instead; we indoctrinate and denude them of their sense of the humane.  We’re stuffing them with knowledge, but starving them of wisdom and understanding.  It’s just not good.

One could see it coming.  There was a day when philosophy (to draw upon one discipline) spoke to the concrete questions of life.  Plato, of whom it has been said that everything else of philosophical import is but a footnote to his thought, spoke of such issues of justice, beauty, happiness and the “good.  Now; the discipline has become unduly arcane, with highly-specialized monographs and articles being written that require “expertise” rather than merely sound intellectual aptitude.

And; if you want to know how bad it can get, just think of daytime television talk show.  They are obnoxious displays of collective ignorance masquerading as enervating insight on the part of “with-it” people.    

Enough with “mere” knowledge!  Where will wisdom be found?  From the source of the fountain; where else?  Wisdom comes from God, something of which King David was intimately and vitally aware.

Teach me Your way, O Lord.

Are we teachable?  It is an honest question.  My tentative answer is “No; not any longer.”

A few things strike me as I give thought to this question.  First; I am struck by the aggravated indifference to matters of faith, especially Christian faith, even during Pandemic.  Perhaps ignorance of God is to blame, as you can’t turn to the One of whom you know nothing.  I discern at least two whole generations of people who have not been grounded in basic Christianity, whether Catholic or Protestant.  20 years ago, if you had encouraged someone to go to church, you would have been met by a “I know, but …”;  20 years later, the  response would be a blank “Why?”  The Church has no credibility any longer, and the most recent generations know not God.  The Apostle Paul speaks those bone-chilling words to the effect that “they are without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).  How; then, can anyone learn from God?

Children don’t seem open to learning from their parents.  Fellow believers are often insensate to the work of God in other believers, something deeply troubling.  We should be learning from one another, blessing one another and setting an example by which others, once they have grown to trust us, may blossom amidst the uncertainties of the time.  If that’s all they have learned, they will have appropriated enough truth, both doctrinally and practically, to make their learning count.

And Christians need to be including the things of faith in their conversations.  We talk about everything from the football game to our most recent dining experience to our grandchildren and the weather, but there remains a dearth of conversation about Jesus,  Christian life and the power of the Gospel.

Dr. Francis Crick who, along with Dr. Douglas Watson, discovered the DNA molecule, was asked why he became a scientist.  His reply was instructive:

“The problem was what did I like.  Finally I noticed the kind of things I was telling some of my young naval officer friends about.  I used to talk about antibiotics, for example and it occurred to me one day that I didn’t know anything about antibiotics; I was just gossiping about them.  So I decided that the gossip test is a good one, that what you’re really interested in is what you gossip about …”

Christians should be “gossiping” or talking our faith. Aren’t we engaged by its content?  Does the Subject of our faith – Jesus Christ the Lord – arouse us to reflection and to conversation?  Is the spiritual welfare of another believer or of the fellowship as a whole of any interest or concern?  It sure as heaven should be!

I learn best by conversing, hard-upon-the-heels of observing, listening and hearing, reading and reflecting and, if I am intent on keeping in step with the Spirit of God, my ablest instructor in the truth of the faith, praying – Essential ingredients; one-and-all, for us to learn – aka to be taught.

Teach me:  I may be the only person who I know who wishes to be taught.  So be it.  “Lord; teach me” is the cry of my heart.

From an early age I was literally frightened of being ignorant.  I wanted to know, whatever that meant.  I wanted to know who I was, what motivated me and how I could rise above my fears and insecurities.  I wanted to know about the world, ranging from human activity to human motivation to human need.  I wanted to know what has happened in our history and what we as a race have thought.  I found myself engaged by human personality and relational dynamics.  And; above all, I wanted to know God my Father.  A tall order; granted, but one that, over time, God granted me.

There was an initial big-bang; of sorts.  My first inroads to my goal were to be experienced within the privacy of my room, wherein Jesus visited with me and abided with me for almost three entire years.  I learned who He was as I grew in my encounter with Him.  I learned of myself, as in my need, my healing, my calling and my destiny.  It was intense.  It was powerful.  It was life-transformative.  And it all played out within a sequestered environment in those early years, an experience with the living God and my risen Lord that continues to reverberate over 45 years later!

Your way:   Man has his own way of doing things, a course laid out by himself for his own purpose.  Husbands and wives may sometimes clash because each has a particular way of accomplishing tasks, a way that makes perfect sense to the one because it is so instinctive and natural, but not to the other.  The old clash of “He says right and I say left” will trip us up too any times for comfort.

Differing cultures have their own methods and exactions.  Italians eat their salad last, while the Anglo-Celtic world eats its salads before the main course.  Trivial; perhaps, but Celts brood while Italians get it off their chests, a visceral response that may, in the immediate be rife with danger but, in the final analysis, is far healthier than Celtic moroseness, a tendency that allows for distemper and dissatisfaction to simmer and fester, making for ever a combustible threat, even if it allows for good poetry and song. 

Spiritually; man’s way is a bent and inverted way, resultant of our sinful condition, a condition that is grounded in disobedience to God, the consequence of which is twofold:  We pay a heavy price for carrying such burden, and we find ourselves lost on our way, spiritually and eternally lost to God our Maker.  Such is the way of man.

It is why we do well to consider what God’s Word has to say:  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  Lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5, 6).

It is so simply fundamental, so vitally urgent that we figure this out.  God is not deceiving or deluding us – He is directing us!  He has the blueprint.  He has the key.  He has the panoramic vision.  He wrote the script; for crying out loud!  Why would we doubt or deny Him?  Why would we reject the soundest and wisest counsel and advice.  It would make us fools; would it not?

Trust in God with all your heart.  It is the lesson par excellence to be learned.  God is both trustworthy and faithful. 

There is; though, a fatal glitch.  We say that we are Christians, and are very sincere in our profession.  We look to Him when we need comfort, and may even thank Him when good comes to us.  But we go about our respective ways, irrespective of His way, all-the-while believing that our way is synonymous with or approved by Him.  God had something startling to say to such a mindset:  “You thought that I was just like you” (Psalm 50:21).  It was a word of displeasure and condemnation. 

The painful truth is that, while we are professing Christians, we are practicing and convinced idolaters!  The core problem is that we are double-minded and conflicted in heart.  We have not fully surrendered to God.  We are holding one hand back in case we need it.  We trust in Him but don’t bank on His verification.  We say we trust in God, but we believe, putting the full weight of our lives on banks, comfort and pleasure, personal advancement, governmental largesse (God have mercy; there!), etc.

God will accept nothing less than hearts fully and wholly fixed on Him.  Jesus said that “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62); a truth that is applicable to those who hold back by keeping one eye, one hand and one foot, as well as half-a-heart, on someone or something else, not in the interests of cheap sentiment of as former time or life but out of current earthly desire.

He is too precious, the blessing are too magnanimous, the life is far too glorious not to give Him all.  ‘Ol Blue Eyes sang “All of me; why not take all of me…?”  The Christian will soon discover the virtues of giving all to Jesus!

Lean not on your own understanding.  Oliver Cromwell, the  Lord Protector of England during the so-called Interregnum period of English history during the 17^th Century once asked the Anglican bishops whether it were possible that they might be wrong in some matter or the other, the inference being that they didn’t think it possible (such; one might add, being the theological temper!).  Is it possible that we might be wrong?  Upon what foundation or basis do we have to assume or trust anything?

We have God and His Word, replete with His way and will.  The Apostle Paul tells us that in Christ resides “the full treasure of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2). 

The Scriptures themselves, according to Paul, are “God-breathed and [are] useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16, 17). 

The Spirit of the living Christ has been given to us, the very One who will instruct us, remind us and of everything that Christ has taught, and guide us in the way of all truth (John 14:26 and16:12).  And His way, let there be no misunderstanding, is just and His will is good, pleasing and perfect (Romans 12:2).

It is most telling that the foundational principles of modern science arose during the medieval period of European history, a time during which the developing academic institutions were the product of the Roman Catholic Church, a scientific predication arising out of the concept of natural law as found in the Bible. 

Translation:  Scientists could trust the reality of natural law because “God created the heavens and the earth,” “having set the moon and the stars in place,” something not to be found in philosophies and theologies prevailing in other parts of the world.

Be assured:  He will never lead us astray.

In all your ways acknowledge Him.

In our intellectual lives:  Modern thinking has created a wedge betwixt fact and faith, faith and reason, objectivity and faith.  It is an untenable assertion of the intellect. 

One’s practice of faith and one’s powers of intellection are not antithetical to one another.  The intellect is much like the commodity of reason.  It is something that is grounded in and funneled through a system of belief.  There simply is no such thing as reason denuded of faith or of personal conviction.  One’s intellect, at least in part, is a kind of applied tool in service to what one believes or doesn’t believe.  Thomist philosopher Alastair MacIntyre wrote an excellent book entitled Whose Justice? Which Rationality?  It is an excellent question. 

I might add the important observation that nowhere in the Bible is the intellect held up as a virtue.  Intellection is a neutral, to be applied to whatever we believe or discover or have revealed to us.  Faith, hope and love are the grand triumvirate, with love at the apex of the triangular triad.  How smart we are simply doesn’t cut the grade.

We can prayerfully think through how we can love our fellow man.  We may apply our cognitive aptitude to a deeper understanding of our high calling in Christ.  We will profit if we examine the scriptural data to have a better handle on the nature of Christian life.  But it is always in service to Christ and never in authority over our faith.  The power of faith at work in our lives is always of greater significance than our intellectual prowess.

Keep before you:  In all your ways acknowledge Him.

In our emotional experiences:  What moves or shakes us?  I remember the electricity in the air here in Philadelphia when the Phillies won the World Series in 2008 (a team that should have won more, but that’s another story); again and even more so, when the Eagles finally won the Super Bowl against the hated Patriots (how as a Patriots fan I hate to say that!) in 2018 (a team that should have won more, but that’s another story; too!).  Crowds amassed in the streets of Philly late-at-night.  Joy filled the air, while impossible-to-erase smiles radiated from countenances of legion-upon-legion of people.

How about the internal workings of church service?  Ho-hum.  Nothing really expected; nothing ever gained.  God wants to enter our emotional lives.  He wishes to pour out His love into our hearts.  He gladly fills us with the joy of His salvation.  He longs to share His peace, a peace that passes all rational understanding, but not emotional experience.  Why do we deny ourselves? 

Christians:  Awaken to our high calling in Christ and to His magnificent array of gifts that should fill us with gratitude and delight.  I love how David reveled when he wrote, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11).

Don’t forget:  In all your ways acknowledge Him.

In our sexual proclivities:  A Jesuit professor at Boston College was one handsome son-of-a-gun.  He was teaching during the 1960s, the origins and heyday of the so-called sexual revolution.  Female students were aglow in his presence, ready-and-willing at any time to offer themselves to him.  Hormonally-combustible male students were both envious and dumb-struck by his ostensible obtuseness to their female charms.  They approached him (please pardon the directness of this transcript):  “You could have any woman that you want; why don’t you take advantage?”  His response was unforgettable.  He raised his arms and declared:  “Because God says ‘No!’”

It is a lesson that we have lost.  Anything now goes on the sexual front.  It has become utter madness, an ethos of depravity not simply in the making but already accomplished. 

We have created an entire industry of thought to justify what God can’t and won’t.  His Word is clear, and no amount of theological song-and-dance can alter the eternal and inviolable dictates of God’s Word concerning human sexuality.

It doesn’t matter now natural the impulses are, whatever they are.  They are natural in an unnatural kind of way.  Anything that deviates from God’s established and articulated order is, in the least, unhelpful, and at worst, harmful to human life. 

We can’t offer God our lives, yet hold back our sexual proclivities.  I often query, “What does God have in common with Frank Sinatra?”  He wants “all, or nothing at all.” All includes our sexual natures.  He’s no kill-joy, but He does know what is bad and best.

We may cry out to Him for help.  We may receive deliverance by His hand.  He may grant us sustaining grace to say “No.” 

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:11-14)). 

We do well to avail ourselves of His grace, lest we become no better than Sodom and Gomorrah, desecrating as we will the God-given pleasures of biblically-defined sexuality. 

Remember:  In all your ways acknowledge Him.

In our private affairs:  We can’t lead double lives.  I was for many years a baseball fan.  My heart broke whenever a favorite player was traded to another team or left as a free agent.  “It’s just business,” one was told.  No; it’s far more – It’s a matter of the heart.

I musn’t preach what I don’t practice.  I must practice what I preach at all times.  I can’t be pleasant and courteous and helpful at work and be surly and uncooperative at home.  I can’t curry favor at-large and be indifferent with my family.  Here it comes; the punch-line:  I can’t be a Christian while at church on Sunday mornings, then leave Jesus in the pew to take on then world under the guise of, “It’s just business.”  Christians:  Your calling to Christ is a 24/7, 365 day-per-year, all-modes-of-life experience. 

Be mindful:  In all your ways acknowledge Him.

He will make straight your paths:  The straight path is also a narrow path.  Jesus could not have been clearer when He said that “wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13, 14).  It gives the lie to the “many roads lead to salvation” philosophy.  It is given the lie by the Word of God. 

Please note the language of this verse:  “He will make straight your paths.”  He. It means that the path that your are taking, the lifestyle you may be leading, the goals and ambitions that fuel your actions aren’t leading in the direction towards Almighty God or the haven known as heaven that He inhabits.  The road that you are taking is not inherently – or; let us be honest, not intended to be – a path to God.

To “get” to God requires God.  I require a some mode of transport as well as a map or GPS system, let alone road signs, to travel from Philadelphia to Boston.  It will be an act of direct intention.  I don’t just get there accidentally.

One must seek God.  One needs to listen in order to hear God.  One must position oneself so as to encounter Him.  Too-often we are consumed by our desires and circumstances.

God can and does break through the barriers that separate us from Him.  But do we genuinely mean business with God.  We will find Him if we seek Him is the assurance that we are given from no less than Jesus Himself.

Consider the map of the globe.  Start your journey from one point on the latitudinal or longitudinal line and travel on a straight path for 27,000 miles.  You will, by journey’s end, be right back where you started. 

Fix your eyes on Jesus.  Set your course towards Mt. Zion, to apply biblical language.  Travel direct, not veering left or right, follow the GPS system that He has programmed, and you will encounter Almighty God.  You will discover that He is right there with you all-along.  You just couldn’t discern Him because of your sin.  He opens your eyes and ears, and reveals Himself through Jesus Christ as your loving and heavenly Father.  But you must stay straight on the road that He has established – One road; period!

O Lord.  We can’t learn any of this in a book.  God’s ways defy mere factual content in a book, even the Bible.  It matters not whether the knowledge accrued is encyclopedic in scale or reflective in scope; both are worthy unto-themselves, but they aren’t the full picture, if they are even a starting point. 

Our starting point is and must be the Word of God.  We have no other means by which to learn of Him.  We must seek Him with all of our hearts, but we can only learn of Him to the extent that He reveals Himself to us.  We may very well know some things about Him, derivatively of the created order. 

The Apostle Paul tells us that we can know of His existence by virtue of the things that have been made (Romans 1:20), a truth made within the context of highlighting our sins, a truth concerning the existence of our Creator by which we are without excuse.

We can know that He has supreme power, an unparalleled aesthetic, and a pronounced sense of order.  But, as Reformed theologian J.I. Packer has noted, a little knowledge of God is much better than a great deal of knowledge about Him.

We must learn; too, that His ways transcend and therefore defy our ways.  There is an exquisite text in Isaiah that speaks both powerfully and beautifully to this effect: 

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:  It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:8-11).

We continue, even in this day of explosive knowledge and harnessing of creation’s potency, to be baffled but also enchanted of all that God has done.  It will take a lifetime to understand how He got it done, just as it may take a lifetime to understand what He wants, and why He has required certain things, of us.  Christians:  We are a people of faith who seek understanding. 

But we can never be a demanding or stubborn people; always, we must be submissive to His Word and Spirit, lest we take a wrong turn and do immeasurable harm to ourselves, no matter how naturally right it seems or good it feels.  God knows best; we best know!

Everything must play out through the prism of the Word, tested by the Spirit, given value as it detracts from or enhances one’s walk with God.  It was by God’s Spirit that the Scriptures were manufactured, as He spoke through the apostles and prophets (2 Peter 1:21).  It will be by Him; too, that we understand and rightly interpret that same Word, else we miss the core of its truth, the warmth of His voice or the love of His heart.

The Bible can all-too-easily become a dry text of ancient literature, a mystery without a clue or key or a legalistic document that oppresses rather than sets free.  The Holy Spirit can easily be construed as being blown by the winds of emotion or fad rather than being likened to the blowing of wind.  A.W. Tozer aptly wrote: 

“The great need of the hour among persons spiritually hungry is twofold:  First, to know the Scriptures, apart from which no saving truth will be vouchsafed by our Lord; the second, to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit, apart from whom the Scriptures will not be understood.”

Lead me in a straight path.  It is a path that leads along what has become popularly and devoutly known as the via dolorosa (or our own version thereof) as we follow in the steps of Jesus.  It is a kind of yellow brick road but, as Dorothy of Kansas well-knew, a walkway replete with danger which, for the Christian, will entail battles with one’s own flesh, trials and temptations from the world, and even satanic attack.  I call to mind what former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a speech at Regent University, as he expressed concern that we may be the first generation of Christians that will be considered un-American by virtue of our Christian convictions.

But it is also and blessedly a path that takes us along green pastures, pleasant waters and paths of righteousness, as Psalm 23 so sweetly puts it.  We know the privilege of living in God’s Presence, being filled with godly fruit and traversing the road set before us with an assured destination, which is the fullness of God Himself.

It won’t be an easy, though it will be a blessed journey; all-the-more, do we need the “expert” guidance of the Holy Spirit:  “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you” (Psalm 32:8).

Because of my oppressors

We will need His oversight and care, especially in our day.  We live in an Age of Persecution, as our brethren throughout the so-called Global South are unduly conversant.  They live under a terrible pall. 

Americans, heretofore known for our religious liberty, a practice given birth amidst the ethos of Christianity, now find themselves at considerable risk, both culturally and legally, due to a shift away from what has been reasonably idyllic for all religious people towards a state of godlessness in the employ of Antichrist.

Godly persons have been confronted by spiritual antagonists within the Church, being assailed for standing in the ground of truth and moving in the Holy Spirit’s flow in the face of spiritual stagnation or ecclesiastical stonewalls.  It is always shocking.

Russian dissident Alexandr Solzhenitzen famously and right remarked as far back as the late-70s that the “forces of evil have begun their final offensive.”  The onslaught is becoming more-and-more fierce, with a take-no-prisoners, no-holds-barred policy and practice.  Christians need to be in humble, earnest and sustained prayer right now.

Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes

Make no mistake:  They mean us no good!  Christians can’t play the fool for ungodly interests.  Too many are seemingly content to play the role of Lenin’s “useful idiots.”

Sometimes it’s the embrace of ungodliness and worldly passions.  At other times it’s the contemporary notion that if only we have the right signage, vision statement and “information center” with coffee and donuts we’ll grow.  Still other times we prefer to live in the past, holding soup sales and seasonal festivals will make the difference.  To be frank:  They may very well buy our cookies, but they probably won’t return to our pews. 

And all due warning; if I may:  Yoga classes won’t draw but a few, as there is undoubtedly a professional yoga class already available, but they will draw many demons, as yoga originates in eastern mysticism, not the Holy Spirit of the Living God.

We may and will find ourselves at-odds with individuals, the prevailing powers of culture and government, or satanic stratagem.  It is best that we don’t bring it on ourselves.

For false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.

We’re haters; at least that’s what they say!  Sincere Christians don’t think in terms of hate, but of agape love and humble adherence to the truth.  We understand that God knows best, and desires nothing more than to bring forth healthy transformation to our lives and to those around us.  It is foundational to us that we are not called to happiness, but to holiness that is replete with the joy of the Lord; praise God!

They would sequester and silence us.  They would edit, discredit and even outright ban the Bible, the very Word of life.  And they will think nothing of, but plan everything to, take pastors down, having brought them under fire, something we are already witnessing, both in the UK and, on this side of the Pond, in the US and Canada. 

Brother Yun, aka “The Heavenly Man,” was hunted and horribly brutalized by the Communist Chinese.  He knows better than anyone what Christians are up against.  He talks about the kind of training needed for Christians under the fire of persecution.  Often; it is on-the-job training behind the bars of a prison cell.  But they learn.

We must begin afresh to learn; too.  It is imperative that every pastor or teacher, every church or denomination, begin to address current and imminent reality.  There is too much at stake and so much blessing to be had and shared.  It’s time to learn – “Teach me Your way, O Lord” and I will praise Your Name!

Bradley E. Lacey

May 15, 2021