Him Shall He Teach

“What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.” (Psalm 25:12)

This verse from Psalm 25 starts off with a qualifier. Qualifiers upset people. A qualifier demands a certain quality, attribute or characteristic in us. It is an if/then scenario, where we must be a certain way or meet a certain condition before God will do, allow or accept us.

This upsets a lot of people for it requires them to change, not God, and demands adherence to a Godly standard. Sin never likes that idea.

Let’s be perfectly clear. God loves all people. But God does not love or allow all qualities, attributes or characteristics of man. We have been given the perfect role model to emulate in Jesus Christ. There is no sin in Christ so therefore there can be no sin in us. What can’t be achieved our self because of our weakness in the skin, we are gifted and covered through Christ our Lord and Savior.

Who does God teach? According to the Psalm only those who hold God in reverence, awe and in Godly fear.

What does God teach them? There are two things. The first of course is righteousness and all things Godly. But the second, and that which the Psalm is referring to, is in the way that God chooses. This brings up several points.

First, does this mean that man does not have free will, because the Psalm tells us that God teaches, “in the way that he (God) shall choose”?

Yes, man has the freedom to choose. For example:

"A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps." (Proverbs 16:9)

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." (Psalm 37:23-24)

But there are consequences to every choice, be it positive or negative. God has predestined us and called us. This means the way has been mapped out and that God is calling and instructing us down a certain pathway. It is a straight and narrow way with a clear destination. But even though God made a clear map with clear directions to a final end, we can still choose to deviate from it. We can still choose to ignore God. We can still choose to do whatever we want to.

But there will be consequences if we do. Bad consequences. Eternal consequences. This is why God gave us a path and destination and is calling us to Him. He is trying to keep us from falling out of the way and making a fatal mistake.

Too many folks have the erroneous idea that God is some angry old guy in the sky just waiting to punish all those that break His arbitrary set of rules. I ask you to rethink that idea.

Think of a treacherous mountain. God has built a road around, through and over this mountain. He is calling out directions to us. Sometimes He puts up barricades that stop us from falling off the mountain, down thousands of feet to our death.

Now, would you be upset with God if, with full knowledge, you willingly ignored His warnings and willing plummeted to your death? No, I don’t think you would.

But let me tell you how the devil packages and sells the experience. The devil tells you that you can fly without aid of wings or parachute. He shows you pictures and video of folks in mid-air. He tells you everyone is doing it and shows you countless smiling faces, having fun as they glide, effortlessly through air. So you commit to the devil and take the plunge, against the warning and advice of God.

Everything is great wonderful at first. You take pictures and post selfies of the fantastic and fun time you are having. You become the envy of all your friends for being so bold and adventurous. You are cool and hip because you have proved God wrong. Forget God’s warning, I can fly! You’re a “bad boy”, the envy of all the guys and desired by all the girls.

But then the two thousand foot distance between the mountain top and the ground collapses to zero as you smack into the ground in a grand and glorious broken mess.  You now are paying the price for your sin. Some will survive the fall. Some the fall will totally destroy and kill. In any case, the devil has accomplished his goal of destroying you.

Sadly, the devil didn’t win. All you’ve done is to prove God correct, for we can do nothing against the truth, only for it.

God has a way, a righteous way chosen for us all. This holy highway keeps us away from falling into sin and death.

God also has a way that is unique to each of us, suited for how we were made and who we are.

Let me interject something here. The term “Free Will” is really a misnomer. The free and unobstructed carnal will of man would be the most destructive thing on the face of the planet. Man’s will unleashed and unfettered is the very abomination that God saw and moved to destroy.

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them” (Genesis 6:5-7).

Man’s free will since the fall is, “only evil continually” In Freudian terms, man’s will is pure “Id”, with no ego or superego to curtail its power and lust. Id seeks immediate gratification for all of its desires. That’s modern day carnal man and his free will, a beast called Id.

Adam Clarke, the famed 19^th century minister, theologian and scholar said, “Will is a free principle. Free will is as absurd as bound will: it is not will if it be not free; and if it be bound, it is no will”.

Clarke continues, “If a man be forced to believe, he believes not at all: it is the forcing power that believes, not the machine forced. If he be forced to obey, it is the forcing power that obeys; and he, as a machine, shows only the effect of this irresistible force. If a man be incapable of willing good and willing evil, he is incapable of being saved as a rational being; and if he acts only under an overwhelming compulsion, he is as incapable of being damned….The power to will and the power to act must necessarily come from God, who is the Author both of the soul and the body, and of all their powers and energies; but the act of volition and the act of working come from the man. God gives power to will: man wills through that power; God gives power to act, and man acts through that power. Without the power to will man can will nothing; without the power to work, man can do nothing. God neither wills for man, nor works in man's stead, but he furnishes him with power to do both; he is, therefore, accountable to God for these powers.” (Adam Clarke/ Christian Theology)

Yes! Man has a will. God gave us a will to use and exercise as we see fit.  But it is vitally important to understand that our entire journey here on earth is walking, “through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4).  

We must, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 peter 5:8).

"Present fear begetteth eternal security: fear God, which is above all, and no need to fear man at all." (Augustine)

But we fear God, so we hear God, and willingly respond to His call and choose to follow His holy highway.

“Where God sanctifies the heart he enlightens the head. We all wish to choose our way; but what a mercy is it when the Lord directs that choice, and makes free will to be goodwill! If we make our will God's will, God will let is have our will. God does not violate our will, but leaves much to our choice; nevertheless, he instructs our wills, and so we choose that which is well pleasing in his sight. The will should be subject to law; there is a way which we should choose, but so ignorant are we that we need to be taught, and so wilful that none but God himself can teach us effectually” (Charles Spurgeon).

Bill Hitchcock