God’s School of Life

"So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous ... and preserveth the way of His saints" Prov. 2:2-8 KJV

Our great Creator hides Himself, so that men will have to search beyond their natural understanding, go further than the visible things easy to comprehend. We are all in God’s school of life, designed to teach us and train us to develop all who are willing into His likeness and image. There is a God-place within each of us, longing to be filled with His nature, though we oft seek other ways to fill this hunger and thirst for the divine. But we can and do seek Him, because He wants to be found, to Father us into the kingdom of His dear Son.

"Seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from everyone of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being" Acts 17:27-28 KJV

What we see depends on where we live. The environment around us teaches us what is reality here in the world. God teaches what is reality in His kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy. The more we search for God, learning to draw from the spirit, beginning to understand His ways, focusing upon the world of His spirit, the more we are able to live in the higher realm of God-consciousness. The Lord has given us life, and this life is a training ground if we are willing to be trained by it.

“Now all discipline, indeed, for the present is not seeming to be a thing of joy, but of sorrow, yet subsequently it is rendering the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those exercised through it.” Hebrews 12:11 Concordant Literal

Think back to when you were in school—which is a long time ago for some of us! If we learned to love learning, if we were supported in our educational growth, we grew to understand the things of this world we need to know to do well. Information, knowledge compiled by others, was provided to us and we asked questions to understand what was being taught. Some subjects were favorites, while others did not catch our interest, but we had to learn them anyway.

God’s school is like that, only many of the lessons are difficult as they deal with who we are, our very character and nature. As we yield to the Lord, He teaches us the foundations of faith, the essential truths upon which to build a good and productive life. God’s lessons do become more difficult than we had anticipated when we fell in love with our Savior. His purpose is to build our character to be like Him, to love others and treat them as we want to be treated.

We grow as Jesus grew, through the things we suffer. Our reward is not a report card or public acclaim, but that peaceable fruit of righteousness that is worth more than gold and silver. There are many rewards given in God’s school, but only God and ourselves know about it until the fruit of His dealings are made visible when He is seen within us. We have many quiet victories as we learn of His ways and, like any good parent, Father God celebrates every one of them!

Salvation is free, but righteousness is earned, rewarded with nature change. Thankfully God is the life force within us able to change the sinful nature of man that we are unable to permanently change. Those of us who have earnestly sought to learn of His ways because we have a particular issue or flaw that plagues us or others around us can testify to that.

How many have struggled with a quick temper, suffer from anxiety, have the tendency to become addicted or reliant on things outside of ourselves other than God? Consider the rewards in Psalm 91 for those who learn to live, move, and have our being in Him, who are seeking to say and do only what the Father says and does, like our Lord and King, the firstborn Son.

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my [full] salvation.” Psalms 91 KJV

To dwell with God, to love the Lord above all others, brings many rewards. Remember , where we live is what we see. The more we live in God and He makes His abode in us, the more we see of Him, and our lives are rewarded with what Psalms 91 so beautifully promises. This is His secret place, found as we search for Him with all of our hearts. In this secret place, nothing can harm us. He takes fear of harm and death from our consciousness as He teaches us of His ways.

Like in any school, we ask questions about things we do not understand and we have tests [trials] to prove our faith. We fall short in understanding many matters because His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts higher than ours. Some of us always have a list of questions we ask of the Lord and many are answered as we walk with Him and talk with Him. Indubitably, there are questions He will only answer on the other side of this life—or they will no longer matter.

We must love the Lord with our whole heart—our mind, strength, and will—to learn of His ways. He has always been after the hearts of men, and is not satisfied with passive lip service:

“And so the Lord says, ‘These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.’” Isaiah 29:13 NLT

To dwell in the secret place within us where our Lord has taken up residence requires much more than knowledge of scriptures, great revelation, or the do’s and don’ts of religion. We are not following systems or rituals, but our Living Father God. He made man for relationship with Him, to be like Him. It’s the heart He is after and that is what is desperately wicked and cannot be changed but by our Master Teacher.

Daily we take up our cross, those things that crucify our flesh—our mind, our will, and our emotions, our soul life. He puts these things to death, creating in us a willing and tender heart wherein He writes His truth. When something is written in our hearts, it is permanent! Father God never forgets us or what He is doing in us. Some trials meant to crucify our flesh are deep and painful, such as the death of someone for whom we prayed diligently, the unexpected harm that comes to those we love, the loss of business or friendship or a hoped for future.

Others are lighter and may even be missed as opportunities for a character change. Do we always remember that God’s love is first patient, then kind when the daily imperfections of others and the way this life goes challenge us to be just that? It is easy, it is natural to yield to impatience, irritation, unkindness if not rudeness, when these things happen. When we do, we miss a lesson in God’s school that He will have to test us on again. He will have a people for His name’s sake, with the very nature of our King!

To have the name of God is far beyond just calling ourselves Christians! Name means nature, and the nature of God in man takes a long time of education and training for those of us called to this. We are to be like Him, displaying His love and mercy for all, His redemptive justice giving hope to the downtrodden and those who have lost their way. He will have such a people, that is His plan.

The Jews were the chosen people in ancient days, and through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gentiles—that is, all people—are God’s people. Peter confirmed this in the discussion with James about what should be required of Gentiles coming into the faith:

“Now, there coming to be much questioning, rising, Peter said to them, ‘Men! Brethren! You are versed in the fact that from the days at the beginning God chooses among you, that through my mouth the nations are to hear the word of the evangel and believe.’ And God, the Knower of hearts, testifies to them, giving the holy spirit according as to us also, and in nothing discriminates between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith…

[James replied]’Simon unfolds how God first visits the nations, to obtain out of them a people for His name.’” Acts 15:8-9;14 Concordant Literal

Throughout the word of God, He does many many things for His name’s sake, in spite of what His own people have represented as His nature—His name. He longs to have a people who will show forth Who He really is: a God of love, compassion, and mercy, ever faithful, ever just, revealing love to all. He is dedicated to our training in His school of life so that others can really know what He is like, no longer shadowed and distorted by the nature of man.

Here’s but one of many scriptures that declare this truth. We do not get what we deserve because God knows we cannot change to be like Him in ourselves. We need God and His training to learn the lessons to be like Him in this world.

“Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: It is not for your sake that I will act, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you went.” Ezekiel 36:22

This is where we are heading in the great Day of the Lord which is upon us. We are to be like Him, perfected by the trials and tribulations of this life, just as Jesus was. These are not somehow sent outside of God’s permission, but created and designed by Him to perfect a people for His name’s sake. So what will graduation be like in God’s school? We wait for this, though it be ages before the fullness of His plan is known.

We are promised many things in the kingdom, particularly for those of us committing to go all the way in God, on this side of life and following death of the physical body.

“Thus said Yahweh:Let not the wise boast himself in his wisdom, Nor let the mighty boast himself in his might, Let not the rich boast himself in his riches,

But--in this let the boaster boast himself, In understanding and knowing Me, For I [am] Yahweh, doing kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth, for in these I have delighted.” Jeremiah 9:23 KJV

We are destined to be a delight to our Lord Jesus Christ and to our wonderful Father God. What could be better than that?