A Road Map for Life | Beginning With GodSample

FIVE LESSONS FOR BEING A GOOD STUDENT (Psalm 25)

For many years it was my joy and privilege to stand in a classroom and teach students. As a teacher, you are always looking for students who are open to receive and ready to respond. It is a wonderful thing.

As a Christian, I have to realize every day that I am not the teacher -- I am the student. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve lived, how old you get, how much you think you know. In reality, the teacher is the Lord and we are just students in His classroom.

What kind of student do you think the Lord would say you are? How teachable are you? Are you still wide open to God, or do you feel like you have graduated from that school?

My friend, the Lord’s school is one we never finish until we graduate into His presence.

Psalm 25 is the psalm of the teacher and the student. It is written from David’s perspective and has 22 verses, the same number as the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. If you look at it in Hebrew, each verse starts with a different letter like an acrostic. No other passage of Scripture is like that. I think that in a practical way, it was used to help someone memorize and meditate on Scripture.

But there is great spiritual truth here for us as well. Psalm 25 is a Penitential Psalm, or a repentance psalm. There is the idea here of completeness — being completely right with God, dealing completely and thoroughly with one’s sin. That is the tone and the theme of this psalm.

But as you read these verses, there is a certain truth that keeps coming up over and over again. Let’s read a few verses and see if you recognize it.

Verse 4: “Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.”

Verse 5: “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”

Verse 8: “Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.”

Verse 9: “The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.”

Verse 12: “What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.”

Each of these verses specifically mentions the teaching of the Lord. He has much to teach us.

The older I get, the more I realize what I do not know. The more I mature in the faith, the more I realize I am so far short of all God’s greatness, goodness, and knowledge.

The Bible says in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Do you ever ponder how much you do not know, and then meditate on what God does know?

God is saying, “I want you to cry out to Me and ask Me because I have so much I want to share with you and teach you.” I wonder what kind of students you and I are going to be today. Are you a student of the Word of God, of the Holy Spirit, of spiritual things? Are you willing to obey and be open to being instructed by the Lord Himself?

Psalm 25 not only shows us the necessity of being taught but also some practicality. Each one of these verses reveals something about who the Lord teaches. He wants to teach everyone, but any teacher will tell you that every student does not learn at the same rate. Anyone who has been in a classroom will tell you that not everyone wants to be there.

Read verse 4 again and think about the heart prayer contained there. Do you hear the fervent tone of the psalmist? God teaches those who ask. A simple thing to remember as we approach the Lord is just to say, “Speak to me.” As Psalm 119:18 says, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”

The use of words such as “ways” and “paths” is important because these are actual steps we are instructed to take. The teaching here is not just for the sake of knowledge, to fill your head with facts. This teaching will affect how you live your life.

Are you willing to ask the Lord to show you how to behave today, how to respond to that person in your life, how to spend your money in a certain area? It’s all about letting the Lord get down to where we live.

Verse 5 shows us that God teaches those who are willing to wait on Him. Teachers have to be patient, and so do students. You don’t get it all immediately; it is a little at a time, line upon line, precept upon precept. We want all the answers right up front, but God says that He will teach us if we wait on Him throughout the day.

He does not just hold class during that 15 minutes of devotional time you might have. His class is all day long. The God who saved you is One you should learn to wait on all day, every day.

According to verse 8, God teaches sinners. We all certainly qualify in that regard. I would go a step further and say that He teaches those who acknowledge their sinful condition. You don’t strut or prance into the presence of God. You come humbly and admit that you are needy and sinful. When you do that, God opens the door for you.

Remember the Pharisee and the publican? The Pharisee touted how he was not like the others, and he went home the same way he came. The publican asked for mercy, and he was justified.

Psalm 51:6 says, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” I believe there is a divine order there. To gain wisdom, you must speak the truth. Acknowledge that you are a sinner.

God teaches the meek, according to verse 9. This is someone who is teachable and humble, who doesn’t think he has all the answers. Come to God saying, “Lord, I am ignorant and you are all wise. Show me Your wisdom.”

We see the final sign of a good student in verse 12. God teaches those who fear Him. There has to be the right amount of reverence and awe from the student to the teacher, and there has never been a teacher like the Lord.

Ask Him to show you what He would have you know of His ways. Purpose in your heart to be the right kind of student today. Make sure there is nothing between you and the Teacher, and then say, “Lord, speak to me. Teach me in the way that You choose.”