I get to have good discussions with my sons. Both of them have different gifts and bring with them a plethora of ideas and insights that I have missed somehow. I was talking with my oldest Son, Chuck 3, and he really had an excellent insight into how we learn from God. I had just assumed that learning from God was reading the Bible. But he suggested that it’s responding correctly to the circumstances that God brings into our lives. Wow! It made me see Romans 8:28-29 in a different light. It says, “And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” It teaches us that all things that God allows into our lives, good and bad, are there to help us become more like Jesus. Learning from God is both understanding His Word and growing through the trials, failures, successes, and victories in life. That’s how we learn from God.
I like to sit in the morning and drink my coffee, read the Bible, reflect on it, and even pray over it to have its intended impact on my life. This is extremely cozy and comfortable. I’d much rather learn from God that way than deal with life experiences and struggles. We learn from God by dealing with our life experiences. Most of those learning experiences have to do with relationships with other people. Proverbs remind us repeatedly of the importance of other people in our lives. Chapter 12, verse 15 says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” I’ve gone the way of a fool frequently in my life. I have learned over and over again how valuable it is to ask counsel from wise people before acting.
Here are some wise sayings from some wise men of the past. We should really learn from them. Winston Churchill said, “Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” He also said, “The man who is too old to learn was probably always too old to learn.” At a commencement ceremony one year, Henry Haskins said, “To the graduating class, I bequeath the good advice that I gave to the students of former years. It really is as good as new, for very few have ever used it.” I went through a phase as an elementary student where I called my brother or my sister stupid. My parents rebuked me and told me I was never to call anyone stupid. I taught my sons the same lesson. The rules for polite behavior among humans do not always apply to God. Proverbs 12:1 says, “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”