Cultivate a Learner’s Heart | Who is a Teacher Like Him

The other day something happened that shook me to the core and encouraged me at the same time. I was in the middle of my Bible study when Fletcher grabbed my Bible and started to stand on it. I quickly picked him up off of it, so he wouldn’t damage it. “Let’s go get your Bible,” I said. As I handed him his children’s Bible he said, “Bible.” He points to the cartoon picture of the person on the center of the cover. “Jesus.” Clear as day he said Jesus. At 21 months, he is a sponge. Things are clicking in his mind like never before and he impresses us everyday with new things.

As soon as I realized what he did, encouragement flooded my heart. He is learning. Even though he doesn’t respond to “night-night” prayers other than shake his head every night (because he doesn’t want to go to sleep), he is observing and watching. This is also the incredibly scary thing. The amount of influence that we have as moms, as wives, as women. We don’t even realize the extent of it. The great responsibility, cut me down and humbled me.

I recently finished Job and out of the 42 chapters, one verse has stuck with me. Ingraining itself on my mind.

Who is a Teacher like Him?

Job 36:22

Before I can begin to even harness the responsibility of teaching my child about Jesus, I must first learn from Him myself. There are a couple of Hebrew words for teacher. One gives the visual of an archer who hits his target. Another is throwing water. He knows when our hearts need tending, when our eyes need opening. He knows when our desires and passions have strayed and he expertly shoots his arrow of truth to the root, to the bullseye of our souls. And as he does, his truth throws Living water- filling the holes. 

The other definition is “to send out the hand, for pointing out- to show with fingers.” The fingers that made the world, made our brains and souls to understand his word – to know him. The fingers that broke the bread were bared open on the cross so ALL may come – are the fingers that still mark his faithfulness in our lives today. The fingers that spread heaven out as a curtain, the fingers that ripped the veil in two, were the fingers that fed them breakfast and crafted our souls, knitted our personality and continually pull us to him. 

In Luke, Mary calls Jesus Rabboni , which means Teacher. Jesus didn’t teach them from a pulpit. He entered into life with them. He fished with them. He ate with them. He walked with them. He engaged in every day ordinary life moments with them. And all the while, He was teaching them about Himself.

The book of Acts, continually convicts and inspires me. I’m in awe of the Jesus followers at the Church’s beginning. How Apollos was “mighty in the Scriptures.” How many of them argued and persuaded the Gospel proving Jesus was the Christ. The Gospel spread further and further throughout the region and the world.

I want to be a woman mighty in the Scriptures. I want to be able to intelligently discuss why I believe what I believe when approached with opposition. I want to be part of a generation that God uses to continue to reach the nations. But how? How do we become mighty women and men in the Scriptures?

By having a learner’s heart.

As followers of Jesus we are to be, first of all, learners.

Ralph earie

To be a learner, we must first desire to learn. We must fight against the natural tendency to turn from God and actively war against having our hearts turned against him. Rather, let us pray to desire him. To delight in Him, take pleasure in Him, incline our hearts to love Him above all.

The term “disciple” is mathetes in the original Greek, which carries the connotation of learning by intent through inquiry and observation. To learn, we have to spend time with Him. We have to observe how and why He said and did the things He did. We have to ask Him for a greater desire for Him.

Job 21 tells us that the wicked say to God “Depart from us. We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.” I can’t think of any scarier words we can say to God than “Leave us alone.”

Our mouths may never utter those words but don’t be fooled into thinking our naturally wicked hearts might. That’s Satan’s chief goal: to separate us from Christ. To turn our hearts away from intimate fellowship. He was a deceiver and accuser from the beginning and still is. 
We are told to “Let the word of Christ dwell richly in us” {Col. 3:16}. That word dwell is an active command in the Greek. God commands us to actively and presently and continually allow his word to invade our being.

Why? To keep us from ever thinking that we are better off without him. Even though our hearts may be inclined against him at times, he doesn’t just “leave us alone”. He is faithful in his pursuit. Coming after us again and again. Awakening hearts again and again. And that, my friend, is the definition of Good News.

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.

Jeremiah 15:16

Jesus takes hold of us, but we must allow His Word to grab us as well. The word found in Jeremiah 15:16 gives a beautiful picture in the original Hebrew: “I eagerly devoured them, made them my own.” It’s digesting and delighting in His Word as one would in finding the greatest treasure.

Do not be rebellious, open your mouth and eat what I give you.

Ezekiel 2:8

God is a giver. That is an active participle meaning he actively bestows, grants and gives. He gives His Spirit, He gives His word. Ezekiel was told to empty himself of wordly things to fill his inward parts with God’s word. He was told to fill his belly with it. I found the Hebrew word for belly interesting. It means bowels (the deep parts of the soul), but it also can mean womb. He fills our wombs with His word, so he can birth growth in us.

But we aren’t told to just consume knowledge. Knowledge isn’t meant to be hoarded, it is meant to be declared. As we learn, we teach. The disciple disciples. The prophet Jeremiah describes God’s word as a burning fire shut up in his bones. He tried to contain it to himself, but it was all in vain. God wouldn’t allow Jeremiah to stop preaching. God’s word would not be contained – it had to burst forth.

Learning the Bible is something we have to cultivate, as with any skill. We will always be in a state of learning. But the Bible isn’t just a bunch of stories about God teaching other people. We aren’t second-hand learners, just gleaning knowledge from everyone else’s personal encounters with God. God Himself uses the Bible to teach us. About Himself. Like He entered into life with the disciples, He enters into life with us, engaging us in the ordinary moments and tasks of our day.

Open your Bible, friend. Approach His footstool. He has a word He’s longing to teach you.

Who is a teacher like Him, indeed.