Thursday, May 21, 2009
I think that I have learnt infinitely more from relief teaching than any (or all) of my students have learnt from my teaching.
Isaiah 46:8 "..take it to heart, you rebels.."
I've just realised how infinitely patient God is with us. Fifty minutes (what the heck, FIFTEEN minutes) in 1G make me scream and go all bad-mood and (sometimes) lash out at the kids. They openly defy, disobey, refuse to listen, refuse to think, refuse to learn. And that's just a few out of the 41 of them, of course.
6.7 billion people on this planet, and millenia trying to make us listen, learn, obey. And God doesn't lose his cool. I mean, our planet is still around, isn't it? So are 6.7 billion of us.
Now,
that's patience.
And I also realise how arrogant and rebellious I have been.
I mean, barely 6 years (and a few Culture Quality points) separate me from the kids I'm supposedly teaching. And yet already, I
know that what I'm supposedly teaching them (English, Math) is SO important, that this could make or break so many of their futures, that they would have it so much more easier next time if they just did a little more work
now, if they listened when I talk, if they obey when I give them work, if they come to me for help if they have trouble.
But no. Instead, they talk during the lesson. Walk about the class. Complain (or plain defy) when I set work to do. Refuse to listen, refuse to humble themselves. They call me when they don't understand how to do the questions, but it's not to learn - it's to ask me to do the question for them, or take the work away.
They don't lack the intellectual capacity to learn the work, nor the physical capacity to do it, yet in their short-sightedness they do what seems best to them now. It takes a cmf booking, sending out of class, detention/suspension/caning, to get them to pay attention and listen to me. And even then, it's only for an incredibly short period of time. Within the period, they're back to their rebellious arrogant selves.
Sound familiar? No? Lets think harder.
Is it not
conceivable, perhaps, that God should know more than us? That God, having being present from the moment of creation and way before that, having designed us from the dust and breathed life into our being, should know what is good for us, what we ourselves would enjoy (if we would just walk the way he shows us) and what we would hate (which would happen if he just let us choose our own ways)?
God speaks to us through his Word. It's there for us, the bible is so easy to reach, so easy to open and read. And yet, we don't. I write the task on the whiteboard, it's in the middle, clear and perfectly visible, yet they don't read it; and if they do, they don't ponder on its meaning and act upon its instructions.
We refuse to listen to His constant urging through our conscience, disobey His instructions, complain to Him (or to others) when we are given specific tasks to do.
He's promised to help us when we have need, if we would but call on Him. But we don't turn to Him with a request for help, but a demand to bring what we desire, or take away what we do not desire.
It takes something sharp, shocking, painful, to wake us up. To make us pay attention, listen, humble ourselves and obey.
And then in an incredibly short time, we forget the lesson. We go back to our old arrogant selves, assuming we know more than God, refusing to listen, refusing to obey.
We are all the ignorant, short-sighted, immature kids in God's class. God, the great Teacher, has dedicated Himself to helping us. Oh, that we would go to Him in humility and with an open spirit!
Posted by nayrakroarual at 12:20 AM
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