September 12—A Pearl for Today
“Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isa. 28:9-10 KJV).
BUILDING BLOCK CHILD TRAINING
I love to watch Julea and Steve Gulbrandson, our youngest daughter and her husband, work with their two small children. These parents are consistent! Their one-year-old daughter, Tayler, knows how to communicate thanks in sign language. With her hand on her lips she speaks her own special version of thank you. We recently spent a week with Steve, Julea, Justus, and Tayler at the beach. I had forgotten how “daily” child training really is and how important consistency is when training children.
God gives His children a training schedule in Deuteronomy 6:6-7: “And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (NASB). Consistent repetition is God’s teaching method. When God desires to teach us a lesson, He usually passes it by us as many times as necessary until we learn. We hear the lesson on the Christian radio station, read about it in scripture, even experience it in our prayer and devotional time. Even the Sunday sermon may be on the same topic! God offers consistent repetition until we learn and can progress to another level of maturity. “Precept upon precept” is the biblical picture Isaiah offers, suggesting that the lessons and truths we learn are built one upon the other.
When Steve and Julea work with Justus or Tayler on a principle or skill, they repeat the lesson throughout the day. Rejoicing abounds when the children finally “get it.” That same joy fills our heavenly Father’s heart when we finally learn a lesson He wants to teach us.
Justus and Tayler are quick learners. (This unprejudiced grandmother appreciates their superior intellect!) The writer of Hebrews expressed the opposite in his letter: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food” (5:12). Ask the Lord for a receptive mind concerning the lesson(s) He wants you to learn.
Be a quick learner! You need this lesson as a building block for the next!
