It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. Psalms 119:71-72 (NIV)
God allows us to be taught by degrees. For our faith to increase incrementally so that we might “shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the Word of Life”, as the Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 2:15-16 (NIV). And He often uses our trials as His “school of affliction” to teach us. Sadly, we can choose to learn on a “field trip” of our own poor choices, which gets us nowhere fast, rather than in His classroom. We are not robots and God does not make us follow Him or make us do the right thing. Yet, He can even use what we choose to draw us to Him. He can also allow things not of our choosing to make us more and more like Him – so that we might shine all the brighter for the Father. Unfortunately, none of us become like Billy Graham overnight – or any great saint for that matter (to say the very least). Truth received is to go from our heads to our hearts to our hands. This is how we impact the world for Christ. That is how we grow our faith. It is to be applied not just held in the head or recited by the mouth.
When God teaches He applies the instructions to the heart – commanding His Light to shine out of our darkness. We learn, we assimilate, we put into practice through His power and for His glory. Head knowledge alone is never enough – it merely puffs. Truth is to transform the life. And we are all in process. If Truth is not put into practice, we simply sit, soak and sour. His Truth must flow out through our words and our actions as rivers to oceans and bring forth much fruit or it can stagnate like ponds with no outflow.
The more we become acquainted with God’s Word the more we will love God’s Word. God’s teaching is powerful and conveys Truth as well as light and it is as “sweeter than honey” to the taste. King David is a great example of this. He writes in Psalms 119:72 (NIV): “The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.” God’s teaching is not only powerful and effective it is also precious and personal. It is His amazing love letter to all of us and it is never to be neglected. Satan loves it when we rob ourselves of this great Treasure. Remember, God is looking for the genuineness of our faith to shine brightly to everyone in our spheres. King David writes in Psalms 25:45 (NIV): “Show me your ways, O 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.”
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.** 1 Peter 1:5-7 (NIV)**