A Teachable Spirit

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior , and my hope is in you all day long.

Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

Who, then, are those who fear the Lord? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.

The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare. (Psalm 25: 4-5, 8-9, 12, 14-15)

Show, teach, guide, instruct: this is a heart that longs to be completely surrendered to God. David doesn’t want just a “yes” or “no” about whether to go into this battle or take that road; he wants to breathe, eat and sleep in God’s truth.

A teachable spirit has its roots in humility. Pride tells us we can do life on our own terms; we can figure it out for ourselves. We’re perfectly capable of making our own decisions about our jobs, our spouse, our church, our giving – we don’t need to involve God. We’ll go to God when we really need to – when there’s a serious illness, sudden death, job loss, or other bad news we know we can’t control.

Pride tells us that because we believe in Jesus, we can choose the parts of God’s Word we want to follow and which parts we can ignore. When we don’t like God’s instructions about sex, giving, or forgiving our enemies, we rationalize that our situations are different and we’re justified in taking our own paths – the paths of the world.

Humility realizes our inability to order our lives apart from God. It recognizes the consequences of pride that became clear in the beginning and have playing out ever since.

Humility knows that we are all sinners and need God’s constant help in what is a daily battle. It’s only when we put our faith in him and not ourselves that we are released from “the sin that so easily entangles.” (Heb. 12:1) Humility still stumbles; when it does, it repents and continues to seek God and His way.

Humility rejoices that the more it seeks God, the more God reveals. The more God reveals, the more we learn, the straighter our path gets, and the less likely we are to be ensnared.