God Will Teach You

Isaiah 48:17 NKJV

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God Who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go.

The word “teaches”—lamad—in Hebrew, means to instruct, to train. It also means to prod, goad; teach; to cause someone to learn. I was raised on a Hereford beef farm in a little town called Exeter, located in central Maine. I’m so glad I was raised on a farm. Early in the morning before getting on my bus for my ride to school, it was my responsibility to take care of the baby calves. I would mix the calf feed with warm water and feed each one from a pail with a rubber-like bottle attached to the side of the pail so the calves could feed as naturally as possible. Cows can be stubborn animals to work with. The Hereford breed seem to have a pretty stubborn streak all their own. I was also trained and expected to help muck out the stalls in the wintertime, which honestly, was a pretty thankless job. One time as I was shoveling out cow manure from behind one of the steers, I noticed somehow the steer had managed to muck up the side of his stall pretty badly. Wanting to do a thorough job, I pushed the steer to the left so I could shovel out the manure on the right. I worked my way up the right side, shoveling and scraping as I did so. Then suddenly, this ornery bovine decided to move back over to the right, right where I was mucking out. In doing so, he pinned me to the barn wall. The impact of his sudden weight leaning over onto my pinned body, was a shocker. I immediately reacted by pushing as hard as I could back against this constant, considerate weight pinning me in place against the barn wall. Nothing seemed to work, and I was slowly losing my strength to push back. Then I remembered a tactic I had seen my Grandpa Small use in a similar situation. I quickly grabbed this mammoth beast’s tail and began to twist it. The twist wasn’t just a slight tug. It was a thorough yank of my full force to get this beast’s burdensome weight off me. It was a do or die moment! I had to do something to cause this gigantic animal to get it through to the deep recesses of his thought processes, to move. It was amazing how quickly he lightening-like stepped his body back to the other side of the stall.

This is not unlike us, God’s children. There are many things He wants to teach us, yet we sidestep His leading and blow sweet human kisses to our spirits day after day, until we experience the prodding and goading touch of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It may be a difficult situation surfaces, or a decision that will take direction from Him. A sense of desperation fills our senses and then we finally agree to move into the position and posture He was trying to lead us to all along. Why is it we vacillating humans feel that many times we know better than God? We mess around in an experimenting way, to see how far we can get away with our own navigation tactics, without having to submit to His great leading and plan. Our verse says “He teaches” us. The question is, do I want to learn the easy way or the hard way? Do I need to be goaded, or prodded along on the pathway of my life, or will I quickly yield to His gentle, kind, loving touch?

What about you? Are you yielding, or throwing your weight up against God’s direction and care over your life? Why not totally yield your all to Him today. He can be trusted, fully trusted. His ways are best.