Taught by the Best

“This is what the Lord, who saves you, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to do what is good, who leads you in the way you should go.” Isaiah 48:17

We get into a great deal of trouble when we start listing everything we have done for God. For one thing, compared to God’s perfection, even our best work would be far too shoddy to brag to God about. When we consider that God truly needs nothing that we have to offer, it becomes a bit presumptive for us to keep a list of any sort of “good deeds” done for Him. Beyond all that, it simply misses the point about our relationship with the Creator. He does ask for our work, for our cooperation with His plans for the universe. But our “work” is not the primary objective; that that is what we often miss.

God’s words to Israel begin by reminding them that He is the Holy God who “saves” them. We must not rush by that short phrase and say, “Well, yes, He saved me that time I went forward during the evangelist’s service, and we have been doing quite well since.” God says He is the one who “saves”. In other words, it is not a onetime event in our past. Though our sins and their penalty are dealt with once and for all at the cross (we might call that capital “S” salvation), God saves us time and time again from present sin, from attacks that may come about which we have no knowledge, or even our latent stubbornness that insists that what I feel in my brain must certainly always be the leading of God’s Holy Spirit! I think we are saved from the presumption perhaps most often.

So, though we would like to play a bit of gamesmanship by sharing all of our personal endeavors for God, it might actually be a bit foolish. Even when my spiritual motor is running full tilt and my heart is set to the sail of the Holy Spirit without any doubt, I know I am still able to push my own agenda forward without much thought. I need His salvation day to day, even on my best ones!

Beside saving us and reminding us He is Holy; far different from us and from our imaginations of what God should be, He now says He has called us to teach us to do good. Because the KJV translates this that God will teach us to “profit”, many come away trying to make God a business partner who will make sure you are never in the red. No doubt, following many of God’s principles, our business would function well, but that is not the point of this passage.

God is telling Israel that He wants to teach them how to excel, how to climb the mountain and keep going until they reach the summit. It has to do with all of life, and not so much with knowing how to earn a pocketful of cash. The word also means “useful”. What is God saying?  I believe it is very much what Jesus wanted from His disciples.

“Follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” “Take my yoke up you and learn from me,” Jesus told His disciples. We are never so far along that we no longer need “be like Jesus” training. Our circumstances change or the people we deal with are different than previous moments. We must always be in class. We must never be tardy or tell others “I already know that.” I believe a lack of knowledge about who God is, and what Jesus is like are the biggest reasons the church is weak and that individual Christians sometimes fall by the wayside.

God continues the promise to us by saying He will lead us in the way we should go. I have been praying about reaching more people in our church. I have wanted to know how to befriend groups that simply aren’t represented by our present congregation. We have a group of loving, well-seasoned veterans in the faith and they have made acquaintance with many others in their same interest groups. But we are quite vacant when it comes to many families with children.

Several weeks ago I was invited to play in a band, accompanying a local singer whose voice is absolutely beautiful. I play keyboard, with someone else on bass, two guitars and a drummer. Though playing together only about a month we played at our local celebration called “Bald Eagle Days” and have also been asked to play at the county fair. I absolutely love playing in bands. But God put this together. I had made no overtures about wanting to be in a band, and yet the opportunity arose.

I hope, through living like Christ in this situation, that He will allow me to influence any or all of the members of the band. I do not know God’s final plan, but I do know for certain that He “lead me in the way I should go.”

Never forget that God is the One who saves you, daily if you need it. He calls us, before we ever do any work for Him, to allow Him to teach us to excel. As He teaches us, we will find ourselves led into exactly the right situations to influence the world for Christ. That is God’s plan, by the way, not to make me famous in a band, or to be the pastor with the largest church in town. God’s plan is to extend His kingdom through the means of His people who have taken the time to be trained and who are humble enough to go where he sends.