Teach Me Your Ways
“Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.”
(Psalms 86:11)
This is not a rare request from David or other faithful servants of God in the Scripture. In some places the writers ask God to “teach them” (27:11) and in others they say “show me” or “lead me.” It just so happens that Psalm 25:4-5 uses all three.
While there are many places in Scripture that we can go and find out what “His ways” are, I think Psalm 86 provides insight into the character of One we are asking to teach, lead, and show us the Way. I love the great concepts that we learn about God in this passage.
Here are a few excerpts of the passage:
“For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You… Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; And give heed to the voice of my supplications… For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God…But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth” (Psalms 86:5-6, 10, 15)
What are some characteristics of God that we could learn and imitate?
Goodness
We understand that God is good in all His ways. Psalm 34:8 powerfully states: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” It is an invitation to not just hear about his goodness but to experience it. Hopefully as we do so, we allow that Fruit of His Spirit to live in us (Galatians 5:22-23).
Forgiving
Part of his goodness is the willingness to forgive. It is one thing to talk about forgiveness, but another thing altogether to experience it. That is the powerful message of the thief hanging next to Jesus. Even a man riddled with sinful behavior could find refuge in a perfect Savior.
Lovingkindness
It is not just a little bit of love and kindness but abundant amounts of it. It took an abundant amount to send a perfect Son to be given for imperfect people (John 3:16). And not only to forgive but to give us abundant life in His name (John 10:10). If He is willing to love like that, then how should we treat those around us.
Merciful & Gracious
Mercy and grace are two very strong forces that come from two different sides. Mercy has been described as “not getting what you deserve” and grace is “getting what you don’t deserve.” And God shows both qualities. Freely giving mankind gifts the things they did not deserve and passing up judgment, because of Jesus, that they should have had to experience. Jesus told the story of the unmerciful servant to reveal how hypocritical it is for us to receive God’s mercy and grace but refuse to show it to the people around us (Matthew 18:21-35).
Patient
At times this might be the hardest of the qualities. He is “slow to anger.” Those who read the Old Testament often want to disagree since He brought the flood in Noah’s day, destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and sent His armies through Canaan. But what they fail to see when they pass judgment is how many chances He gave for repentance in those scenarios and how many times He did show patience with other places (ie, Nineveh in the book of Jonah).
So as you go through your week this week. Think of the characteristics of God and how you can demonstrate them in your life. If the Psalmist can ask God to teach, show, and lead him in His ways, then we can too. I’m thankful for a God that not only calls us to a standard, but has demonstrated it for each of us.
Ben