Have you ever had difficulty learning something? During my early years of grade school, learning came fairly easy. Oh, I had some difficulty with that first art class when we were instructed to draw an object of our choice. I elected to draw a barn. We lived on a farm and played in our barn daily, so I knew what a barn looked like. But I’ll never forget how a classmate burst into laughter upon seeing the barn I drew. Anne had also chosen to draw a barn, although she did not live on a farm. Her picture was beautifully drawn in meticulous detail, and it was colored red. Her final product probably could have been entered in the county fair. By comparison, my barn was pathetic. Of course, our barn on the farm was just a plain old weather-beaten barn. In fact, Anne’s barn was nicer than the house where we lived.

Without a doubt, some lessons were learned that day, though the route was somewhat painful. I began to learn the importance of showing consideration for the limitations of others as well as the necessity of not being too sensitive to caustic remarks. Before long, I also learned how to draw better barns by using proportional comparisons and straight edges, though I never could compete with Anne.

Some lessons are painful

Some of the most valuable lessons we learn in our Christian walk also come by way of a painful route. God allows trials as one method of teaching Christians spiritual lessons. Trials are difficult experiences that challenge our faith. Rather than regarding them as painful exercises, we must recognize them as opportunities to learn the spiritual lesson God has for us. Overcoming in the midst of stormy times can be a thoroughfare leading us from faith to faith. On the other hand, merely enduring these trials without benefiting as God intends, becomes a dead-end road. Though trials are beneficial as we submit ourselves to God’s sovereignty, it is not necessary to pray that they will occur more frequently in order for us to learn at a faster pace. If we simply allow God’s timing to prevail in the normal course of living, we will learn at the proper pace.

When Job encountered his trials, he learned that God would see him through in spite of their magnitude. Christians continue to learn lessons as they encounter circumstances that demand solutions that can only be provided by divine intervention. Trials are one avenue through which God permits us to learn.

We learn through chastening

A second method of spiritual learning is through chastening. We often think of chastening in terms of punishment reserved for a misbehaving child. However, chastening may also refer to instruction or training, rather than punishment.

When my sixth grade teacher, Mr. Frakes, instructed me to write, “I will not write too small�?five hundred times, he was trying to break me of using microscopic penmanship. A fad prevailing among some of the kids in our class was to maintain our Number 2 pencils as sharp as a pin, and with painstaking effort, complete our work with remarkably small writing. Mr. Frakes complained of needing a magnifying glass to grade our papers. His method of correcting that problem was to require the aforementioned statement in large print five hundred times. The lesson was learned through his effective method of correction without any punishment involved. (His assignment couldn’t have been construed as punishment, because he was chuckling when he assigned it). Instead, through his training, we were taught the value of following specific instructions in a disciplined manner. That lesson was applied to all of his instructions, not just to penmanship.

Divine correction has a purpose

As a teacher instructs his pupils, so God teaches His children. We read in Proverbs, “My son, despise not the chastening [instruction] of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction�?(Proverbs 3:11). You can be sure that the Lord has never issued His children an “assignment�?without a clear purpose in His mind. This purpose may involve correcting our pattern of behavior. Perhaps it includes altering our thought process. All divine correction is certainly intended to allow us to experience the victorious possibilities that occur only as we obey Jesus�?instructions.

Correction suggests that something needs changing, and that may be uncomfortable! We must lay aside our ways while adopting the methods of God. Hebrews 12:11 reminds us, “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.�?The word “exercised�?implies hard work. Many think nothing of the rigorous demands of physical training, but they chafe under the program of training prescribed by the Lord. Though my sixth-grade instruction involved a seemingly grievous exercise, I now realize the lesson that was learned. Mr. Frakes had no trouble reading my assignments after his training. The blessings God bestows upon those who submit themselves to His learning process far exceed that of any temporal assignment. Perhaps that is why Job declared, “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth�?(Job 5:17).

Learning through repetition

A third effective method of learning is by repetition. Do you remember trying to learn your multiplication tables? My mother acquired flash cards, which she would hold up, looking for my quick answers. What is 3 times 4? What is 5 times 6? What is 9 times 8? (Those higher numbers were really difficult!) Every day, over and over again, we would go through those flash cards. Though at first it seemed formidable to ever master, before long I began to learn the lesson. The key was repetition. Go through it until you learn it.

God also teaches by way of repetition. Possibly some of His students pick up every lesson very quickly, but most of us require more “class time.�?The first time around, we may fail to grasp the lesson involved. But our patient and compassionate Lord repeats it for us the next day, or the next month, or at a future time that He deems appropriate. It doesn’t take a Rhodes scholar to determine that the easiest way is to learn it the first time! Nevertheless, many times we subject ourselves to complicated circumstances while taking the long road to learn our lessons.

Jonah’s problem with obedience

Do you suppose Jonah had difficulty learning his multiplication tables? He certainly seemed to have trouble mastering the subject of obedience (many of us still have trouble with that one). God’s instruction was given, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it . . . But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord�?(Jonah 1:2-3).

Upon Jonah’s refusal to obey, he subjected himself to tempestuous times. The disobedient prophet chose a path that led to the belly of a whale rather than to Nineveh. He had not yet learned the lesson that the safest road is unhesitating obedience to the will of God. The Lord graciously allowed him another chance to learn that lesson by repeating His original instructions when Jonah finally arrived back on dry land. “And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time . . .�?(Jonah 3:1). Repetition is a good method of learning a lesson, though it is not God’s method of choice. His preference is that one learns to obey the first time He speaks. Jonah finally passed that test by obeying God’s word when it came to him the second time.

Christians still learn by repetition. We learn to pray by praying repeatedly. We memorize Bible verses by saying them again and again. We learn the Bible by reading it over and over. And we make spiritual headway by facing challenges until we conquer them.

Submission is key

Regardless of the method of learning which you see God applying to your life, the most effective way to learn any lesson is through submission to God during the challenges encountered in everyday living. Most of us favor avoiding unnecessary trials, chastening, and repetition. We would rather learn in a classroom or by reading a book by some popular author. The most effective way of learning spiritual lessons, however, is by way of the adventures we allow God to bring us through. While hardships will not be entirely eliminated, we can minimize them by allowing God to mold us through these experiences.

Our society has been deceived into expecting many things in life to come easily. As a result, we have a soft generation which is inclined to resist hardship rather than to allow itself to be strengthened by it. Pampering is preferred to disciplined learning. But pampering will produce faint-hearted, weak church members who do not have the spiritual stamina required to withstand the pressures of these evil days. Submission to the learning processes of the Lord will result in Christian soldiers who have experienced the value of reliance upon God during the testing time. Their resolve will carry them through the hardships of life in an overcoming manner.

To this day, I am not inclined to be overly sensitive of criticisms of my artwork. I do not write unreasonably small (word processors help). I have very little trouble with my multiplication tables. You see, when one learns a lesson, it is learned for good.

May God help us to accept the method He chooses and to learn our spiritual lessons!

Shared by Bro. Gary