CCBC

Back to School? – 14 July 2019

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘school?’  Are you filled with joy at the opportunity to reminisce past relationships, experiences, and teachers, or are you more likely to respond with a silent shudder?  For many people, life at school wasn’t particularly pleasant, especially if they were never ‘academic.’  You may be delighted at being finished with textbooks, exams, and essay writing, and perhaps learning altogether.  However, how do we respond when we read the words of Isaiah 50:4:

“The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,

    to know the word that sustains the weary.

He wakens me morning by morning,

    wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.”

A good question to ask ourselves might be; ‘when am I done with learning?’ However, in response, God might want to challenge us by saying ‘when you have nothing left to learn.’  Clearly, as Christians, we don’t become perfect at the moment of salvation, and if we are realistic, we know we will never be perfect in this life-time.  However, we should never let that reality discourage us from pursuing the instruction of God towards Christlikeness.  This pursuit involves the Christian having an open ear ready for the Lord’s teaching.  You will be glad to know that this life of learning is not only found at the University but at breakfast time with the Word of God, in the gym listening to a sermon, and at prayer either in the home or walking through God’s creation.  We have a God whose desire it is to communicate to us His will for our lives and that of our community.  If we value His voice, as I know you do, we have to take the time to listen not only for ourselves but so we too may know the ‘word that sustains the weary.’

I want to encourage you again this morning to believe still that you too can hear God’s instruction for yourself, and that you would find the hope and security that springs from His voice.

Luke