Any student longs for the day of their graduation in order to finally abandon the arduous demands and testing placed on an apprentice. Yet the Lord calls His sons and daughters to a lifetime of apprenticeship.
Do you consider yourself to be learned in the ways of the Lord? If so, let the wise continue learning. Proverbs 1:5 teaches the wise to hear and “increase in learning”. Furthermore, Proverbs 9:9 says that the wise man will be taught to be still wiser, and the righteous man will “increase in learning”. Truly the depths of the knowledge and wisdom of the Lord are so infinite that we are called to a continual practice of righteous learning.
Our Lord Jesus was the Suma Cum Laude by which every other student is measured. Truly He learned to the delight of His Father….. Isaiah 50:4 (a messianic passage)
“The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned,
that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear to hear as the learned.”
First and foremost, the believer is called to “learn the fear of the Lord”. Throughout the Pentateuch the Lord calls His people into communion with Him, but beginning with a proper view of the Great and Holy God (Deuteronomy 4:10; 14:23; 17:19; 31:12-13). Such learning results in our acknowledging His supremacy, and continuously brings us to our knees before the Teacher so that we can ever learn of Him. The fear of the Lord must be learned.
The Son is recognized by the Father and given the highest distinction because “He learned obedience through the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). Consider that while most of us learn lessons through the consequences of our disobedience and having “learned the ways of the Gentiles” (Jeremiah 10:2), the Lord Jesus learned obedience by the continual laying down of His own will never conforming to the world. Obedience must be learned.
Paul also considered himself to be under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit, both as a believer and as a servant of the Lord, as he “learned to be content” (Philippians 4:11-12). The converse of this would be, as Solomon, who lived “gratifying the flesh” (Ecclesiastes 2:3). As the believer makes the Lord his portion, there is total satisfaction and pleasure. Herein is the secret of true contentment, but such contentment must be learned.
Timothy was recognized for having “learned the Holy Scriptures that are able to make one wise” (II Timothy 3:15). Timothy was warned to stay away from those who are “always learning and never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). Since all that is written is concerning our Lord Jesus (Luke 24:44), it would behoove the student to learn by uniting our heart to Him: “Learn of Me” (Matthew 11:29).
Why must we learn? Because we are born lacking all of these: The fear of the Lord, obedience, contentment and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. All of these must be learned! Do you have a teachable heart to continue to learn? Let the wise man “increase in learning”.
“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God,
who gives to all men generously and without reproach,
