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As the summer draws to a close and the bells in the schoolhouse are soon to ring, we hear the words, “But I don’t wanna go back to school.” (These words are heard from many students [and not a few teachers as well].) I am very familiar with the rhythm of the academic calendar, having been a student for more than twenty years, and a teacher for almost fifty.
The truth of the matter is that we will never finish our need to continue learning. Yes, the time will come when we will be finished with going to school, but that will not bring us to the place where learning is no longer necessary.
Why do we need to be constantly learning? Simply because we are constantly forgetting. Additionally, because we are constantly facing new situations. Many of us have been influenced by teachers during our education. Jesus said that a disciple, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher (Luke 6:40). Certainly, God is the greatest Teacher. “Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?” (Job 36:22). He can teach us in many ways—from the great celestial bodies (Ps. 19:1–2) to even the tiny ant (Prov. 6:6). By far the greatest way that He teaches us, however, is by His Word. (A slow and thoughtful reading of Psalm 119 will provide myriads of confirmations to this. Verse 102 even says, “You have taught me.”) We may have read through the Scriptures many times, but still God teaches us fresh and needful truths constantly. It’s like gathering fresh manna every day.
Some learning is easy and pleasurable, while other learning is painstaking and drawn out. In our academic experience, learning is often accompanied by testing. So it is in the spiritual realm. With much learning comes much responsibility to internalize and practice the truth. We should remember that one of the saddest descriptions of many of those living in the last days is that they will be “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7).
One of my beloved teachers, J. Gresham Machen, though he left this world six years before I was born, had a great influence on me through his writings. He said:
Happy are those who in the providence of God can make the study of the Bible very specifically the business of their lives; but happy also is every Christian who has it open before him and seeks by daily study to penetrate somewhat into the wonderful riches of what it contains.
Obviously, that quote is a favorite of mine because it was my happy experience to be a Bible teacher, as Machen was. But he also included all those who study God’s Word regularly.
The psalmist wrote, “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name” (Ps. 86:11). May his words be our constant prayer, and may we never grow weary in traveling the highway of God’s truth.