Are you Learning?

Over the last few weeks, in my Walk through the Bible devotional, I have been reading the book of Ezekiel. If you’re like me, I’m just realising there’s more to the book of Ezekiel than the Valley of Dry Bones (Eze. 37). The devotional has systematically walked me through Ezekiel, and there have been times I had to put the Bible down because of how dark it felt. When I say dark, I’m referring to the prophecies God revealed to Ezekiel about the judgments He handed down. This wasn’t limited to the Israelites (Eze. 7, 11:1 - 13), but to other nations as well (Eze. 25, Eze. 35).

While reading these chapters, all I kept thinking was, why weren’t they learning? Surely, if they learnt their lesson, God would have mercy on them and stay His judgment. God is so merciful that Jonah intentionally disobeyed Him (Jonah 4:1 – 2). Jonah knew that if the people of Nineveh repented, God would have mercy on them; and that is exactly what happened (Jonah 3:10). The children of Israel were on numerous occasions recipients of God’s mercy, yet they somehow failed to learn. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations and Ezekiel detail the consequences of this failure to learn.

Then it hit me while I was in church why David is known as a man after God’s heart. Not just because he knew how to worship God but because David also learnt his lessons whenever he made a mistake. When David slept with Bathsheba and murdered her husband to keep the affair quiet, he learnt from the error of his way (II Sam. 12:13). We are fortunate to be living in what is commonly referred to as the dispensation of grace. A period in which we are not governed by laws (613 commandments- you can read it here), but by grace (John 3:16, Matt. 10:8).

1. What shall we say [to all this]? Should we continue in sin and practice sin as a habit so that [God’s gift of] [a]grace may increase and overflow? 2. Certainly not! How can we, the very ones who died to sin, continue to live in it any longer?”- Rom. 6:1 - 2 (AMP)

In Rom. 5:20, Apostle Paul tells us that where there is sin, there is grace. But if you move on to the next chapter (see quote above), he goes on to caution us against living in sin because there is grace. As we mature as Christians, we are expected to learn from our mistakes/sins and strive to not repeat them (Heb. 5:13 – 14). In this new week, leading into a new month, I charge you to take some time to ask yourself: Am I learning from my mistakes? The beauty of this season we are in as Christians is that God is more than willing to step into the miry clay to help you, just ask Him (Heb. 4:16, Ps. 40:1 – 3).

 

Photo cred: iDisciple