Taught

2 Chronicles 17:9 ⁹ They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the LORD; they went around to all the towns of Judah and taught the people. 

If there is one thing we need as a people of God it is the knowledge of His Word. And I am not talking about Sunday School story time knowledge. I am talking about an adult understanding of the Scriptures and a genuine personal knowledge of the Word working in our lives and in the world.

We can all give a surface reading of some favorite verses. We have plastered it on our FB walls in beautiful scripts on colorful backgrounds. But what about all the other passages of Scripture? Where are they in our minds and hearts? How does it all fit together into one cohesive whole?

You see, many of us don’t really know the story of Scripture as a whole. We know the kid story version, but not the real story of the greatness of our God and the weakness of His servants at their best. We know David killed Goliath, but what does that mean for us today?

King Jehoshaphat had become king. He wanted to do it right. He wanted to be a godly king. And a godly king needs godly people. Even if he were to follow the LORD faithfully, if the people weren’t also devoted, the nation would falter and fall. So what does he do?

Jehoshaphat knows that the success of his kingdom depends on a people who know what godly living looks like. He knows they must know what God has said. They must hear the Word of the LORD for themselves. So Jehoshaphat sends out teachers to teach the people the Law. They become a mobile classroom, teaching the most important subject.

This was distant learning at is best. The best teachers traveling to the students. The best curriculum for their situation. And the students were eager to learn!

We need to pray for this kind of teaching. It starts with students receptive to the Word of God. Without receptivity, no teacher and not curriculum will reach them. We need to pray for open hearts.

Then we need to pray for us a teachers, all of us. We all have an audience, those who look to us for guidance. We all need to be mirroring the Word of God to the world. Our lives need to reflect our own brokenness in Him and His triumph over our brokenness.

Then we need to pray that the curriculum, the Scriptures, would be effective in reaching hearts. When the first two are there, this third one is promised. God’s Word will accomplish its purpose. Lives will be changed.