Slow Learners

Sometimes even sensitive, intelligent people have trouble learning some lessons. Take me for instance. I have a natural tendency to be critical. I suspect that it comes from being raised in a home where arguing the finest distinctions of every little thing was a normal behavior. My wife, Karen, on the other hand, was brought up in a home where argument was virtually nonexistent. This contrast in our characters causes Karen to become irritated when I make a critical comment. I don’t want to irritate my wife, so you would think I would stop being critical (at least around her).

But I can’t seem to help myself. I correct the grammar of everyone. I point out inconsistencies in the television shows we watch. I point out the illogical behavior of people we deal with. I frequently disagree out loud with the policies of politicians especially during campaign season. All of these and more irritate my dear wife. I am a slow learner.

I find a lot of company when I read my Bible. It seems that the whole nation of Israel was slow to learn one of the most vital lessons in life. Whom do you trust (and obey)? After roughly eight hundred years of the Law and the prophets, God’s chosen people were still missing the point of being God’s chosen people. I am referring to the situation recorded in the book of Malachi. The prophet spoke to Israel after they had returned from seventy years of exile in Babylon which was their punishment for continual disobedience and idol worship. The seventy-year sentence was not enough to correct their behavior; they were still learning the lesson (or not learning).

We read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah that illegitimate temple practices were ongoing and people, even the priests, were intermarrying with foreigners. When Ezra discovered the books of the Law and read them to the people, they were outwardly repentant. They swore that they would obey. Yet, when Nehemiah wrote the last of his record, they were still stuck in their old wayward behaviors. That’s what Malachi was chastising them for. Through the prophet, God colorfully described His displeasure with His people. Then He went silent for four hundred years.

There were times in what we call the intertestamental period (between Old and New Testaments) when the people made an effort to do the right thing. The story of the Maccabees is about a time when some of them were zealous for God. The well-known celebration of Hanukkah is in remembrance of the Maccabean restoration. Near the end of the silent years, we know there were people who were waiting for their Messiah. The Gospels record the names of several people who were looking for Him. Zechariah and Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s parents were ready. Mary, though shocked at being chosen gave her pledge of obedience. Simeon and Anna were awaiting His appearance. Doubtless there were others who felt the time for their deliverance had come.

When He finally did come, He was not well-received. The Gospel of John records that although He came to His own things (He was their creator.), His own people didn’t recognize Him. The religious leaders of the day almost unanimously rejected Jesus’ claim to be the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. He rebuked their unbelief by telling them that although they searched the Scriptures where His coming was foretold, they missed Him. Their failure to recognize Messiah reached its zenith when the religious leaders incited the crowd at Jesus’ (mock) trial to shout, “Crucify Him!” In the first gospel sermon, the Apostle Peter lays the blame for crucifying Christ directly at their feet.

It is worth noting that Peter also said that Jesus was “delivered up by the determined plan and foreknowledge of God.” In other words, God used their rebellion to fulfill His long-standing plan to redeem His people through the sacrifice of His Son. That fact does not excuse their unbelief; it merely proves that God will get done what God wants to get done. He can use the disobedience and failures of people to accomplish His sovereign will. Read the Bible closely and you will find that He does that quite regularly.

That doesn’t excuse disobedience in us either, though God will use our faults at times to bring about His perfect plan for us. I wrote some time ago that working all things together for the good isn’t an escape clause from the bad. The good Paul refers to in Romans eight is God’s good plan; everything we go through works toward the accomplishment of the will of God. What could be better (more good) than being a part of what God is doing? Almost every character we read about in Scripture went through tough times. Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David and the Apostles all had their struggles. Yet, God never failed to bring His good will to pass.

The lesson we need to learn, the lesson that often has me in that slow learner class is that God never fails. If I can trust Him, I can trust that even my learning difficulty will not deter Him. That doesn’t mean I can wallow in my ignorance or disobedience. It means that I can push through my failures knowing that the outcome is already written in God’s book for me. God seems to be an infinitely patient special education teacher for slow learners. I suspect that applies to all of us at one time or another. You?

Related posts: Who’s Your Daddy; Why Wait?; Lies We Have Been Told