The Perfect Teacher

For students, summer is a time of school break, fun and relaxation. 

But for teachers, summer is a time of planning, planning, and more planning!

I’ve been busy curriculum planning this week, thinking about what I am going to teach this next school year. So when I read through Psalm 119 in my Bible reading, that one little word, “teach,” stood out to me more than ever.

Over and over the Psalmist pleads, “Teach me, O Lord!” 

He uses the phrase “teach me” at least 8 times, “Teach me your statutes / Teach me your law / Teach me good judgment and knowledge / Teach me your rules” (v.26, 29, 66, 108) and the list keeps going!

The whole psalm is primarily about David’s delight in God’s curriculum plan: His will, His word, and His ways.

God is our perfect Teacher. 

Every blessing and every trial I face, the big and the seemingly insignificant, they are all just lessons that the Lord has prepared for me.

There are lessons in gratitude, joy, patience, and humility. Lessons in praying more and speaking less, and trusting God instead of trying to go my own way.

There are lessons that I delight to learn, like what joy it is to worship with my kids or to soak up the beauty of nature. 

But there are also lessons I would rather skip. Lessons in grief and temptation and forgiveness.

However, God does not leave us to choose our own curriculum. He knows what is best for each and every one of us, and he has an individual plan of instruction designed for our sanctification that will carry each of us through our entire life.

Nothing that happens to us is random or purposeless. He uses everything for our good and for His glory. 

So what does this mean for our lives with food boundaries? 

Simply this….

There have been many times I wished this struggle with food wasn’t the textbook the Lord chose for me. There have been many times I wished that he could have taught me self-control, faithfulness, and sacrifice some other way. 

But never once have I regretted learning the lessons. I delight in the growth that’s come because of them. Never once have I doubted the wisdom of the Perfect Teacher.

This week I want to encourage you to lean into whatever lesson plan the Lord has laid out of you. Prayerfully seek the Lord, and ask him to teach you, just like David did. Instead of grieving the loss of the foods we once loved, we can walk forward with joy, knowing that what we gain is so much greater than anything we could give up.

Let’s show up for this life as eager students, ready to learn and ready to delight in the Lord’s curriculum plan.

“Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

Lead me in the path of your commandments,

for I delight in it.” 

Psalm 119:33-35