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Seeing Our Teacher

Daily Reflection / Produced by The High Calling
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Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes.

Isaiah 30:20

Though God showed immense patience in his relationship with the people of Israel, sometimes their persistent rebellion brought his wrath upon them. They received “adversity for food and suffering for drink.”

Yet God did not abandon his people. He remained with them. In his time he even made himself known to them as their Teacher. Where our translation reads, “he will will be with you to teach you,” the Hebrew original states literally, “your Teacher will not hide himself any longer.” In times of suffering, it can seem as if God is completely absent. We wonder if God has forgotten about us completely. The good news is that he continues to be with us, even when we cannot perceive him. In time, he will make himself known with new clarity and intimacy. He will teach us, and we will be in a place to learn with open minds and hearts.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: Have there been times in your life when you were “feasting” on adversity and suffering? In those times, did you sense God’s presence, or did he seem to be hiding? When has God made himself known to you as your Teacher?

PRAYER: Gracious Lord, when I experience difficult times, my suffering is multiplied by your apparent absence. Sometimes when I cry out to you, it feels as if you’re a million miles away. Though I realize that you have your reasons for “hiding” from me, I must confess that I don’t like it one bit.

Yet when I can’t feel your presence, I find that my longing for you increases. I want you more and more. Thus I’m ready to welcome you in my life as my Lord, my Comforter, and my Teacher.

Thank you, Teacher, for making yourself known to me . . . through Christ, through the Scriptures, through the whispering of your Spirit, through the grace of your people, through the bread and the cup, and in so many other ways. How good it is to know you and learn from you. Amen.