11.23.24 ~ Without Correction, it’s nearly Impossible to Learn

Good morning! 

Shabbat Shalom!

Commercial: Last night's zoom call: Bury Your Dead: a life lesson on how to live life to the fullest while confronting the distractions, the uncomfortable, the fear, the shame, and the pain to find my real life inside (Gen. 23)

I don’t like corrections.  My almost immediate reaction to correction is defensive. Let me rephrase that. My immediate reaction to correction is always to be defensive. I don’t want to be wrong.  My observation is that we are a society that has a very hard time with admission of failure or error.  But without correction, it’s nearly impossible to learn.

When I first started learning French in H.S. my teacher, Ms. Bailey, would gently tell us that we could learn any language if we were willing to make enough mistakes. She told us, once our egos get in the way of admitting errors, learning stops. I think this is true in every area of life. What do you think?

This principle is absolutely true when it comes to learning on our journey/lekh lekha with Yahweh.  But there is one critical difference in Yahweh’s instruction...It is so important that overlooking it will guarantee instant failure...His method of instruction depends entirely on obedience.  In other words, Yahweh teaches us the first lesson and waits for us to obey.  He will NEVER teach the second lesson until we obey the first.  Unlike society, He does care if we stay in 'spiritual kindergarten' for the rest of our lives.  He will not graduate us to the next lesson until the first one has become part of our obedience to Him (2 Tim. 2:6; Isa.28:24-26; Heb. 10:36). There is no social promotion with Him.

Here’s the “red flag theology” point.  Since His mercies are new every day (Lam. 3:23) and He supplies fresh manna every day (Ex. 16), if I am not getting fresh daily lessons from The Creator of heaven and earth, there is undoubtedly some prior lesson that I have not obeyed.  I'll be stuck and I will remain stuck (and feel the consequences of a lack of spiritual growth), while thinking I'm growing spiritually because I'm growing older in age. Yet, the reality in my life is that I still have to settle the obedience issue.

Yahweh does not like His students to get stuck (Heb. 6:3).  He wants growth.  So, when we get stuck, He does things to get us moving again.  He brings correction either by judgment or by wrath and other times through His goodness (Rom. 2:1-4).  Jeremiah calls out to Yahweh, begging Him to bring correction (and get things moving again) with judgment, not wrath.

“O Lord, correct me, but with judgment, not with anger” (Jeremiah 10:24)

You can probably imagine why Jeremiah prefers it this way.

“Correction” in Hebrew comes from the verb yasar.  It means “to discipline, to punish and to chasten”.  Correction is not fun.  Yahweh uses all sorts of things to perform this correction.  His correction is not limited to individuals.  Entire nations can be corrected.  Correction is the time when Yahweh puts His thumb on our life and presses the ego (Edging God Out) out. OUCH, It hurts.  Life is greatly disturbed.  Energy drains away.  The dark clouds roll in.  But Yahweh isn’t trying to beat us unmercifully.  He is trying to get us to take a serious look at our obedience factor. But...remember, His correction is always for our benefit, never our demise.

When you feel corrections, even the tiniest bit, look for the red flag right away.  He never corrects more than necessary.  He wants us to move to the next lesson.  It’s all a matter of obedience.

Shalom!