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"The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to
speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning, He
wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was
not rebellious, neither turned away back" (Isa. 50: 4, 5).
Another very essential preparation of heart
that must precede all true "learning" is
repentance. Just as we should not naturally
include a "yoke" among the necessary
equipment of the learner, so we should most
likely enumerate a number of spiritual
qualifications before we thought of repentance.
The passage that teaches its necessity is
II Tim. 2: 25:--
"In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give
them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth."
Without this repentance, one may be "ever learning and never able to come to a
knowledge of the truth" (II Tim. 3: 7). While we desire to keep in mind that we are not
dealing with the doctrinal issues of the passages quoted in this series, yet, owing to a very
prevalent misconception of the meaning of repentance, we feel it necessary to say that it
indicates "a change of mind". Until this change of mind is granted, all argument and
exhortation are in vain.
One further item in the learner's equipment is that of affliction and suffering. The
Psalmist said:--
"It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes"
(Psa. 119: 71).
The apostle Paul learned in this same school, for he said:--
"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I
know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be
hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthened
me" (Phil. 4: 11-13).
And lastly, of the Lord Himself it is written:--
"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered"
(Heb. 5: 8).
If true service is "reasonable service", and if we must learn the will of the Lord before
we can hope to do it, it will be seen that while grace is all-sufficient, yet we should not
enter upon this path without some preparation of heart, for the path is not always smooth,
neither is it without its trials. We may, however, in it all find rest to our souls in
fellowship with the Lord Himself.