Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. (Psalm 86:11)
When Jacob was forced to flee his brother’s wrath and journey to Syria, he spent a night at a place he called Bethel. It was here that God visited him in a dream saying, “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac” (Genesis 28:13). Until then, Jacob’s faith was an inherited tradition received from his father and grandfather; only after his own sojourn and experience would Jacob proclaim him as his God. As he said, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going … so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God” (Genesis 28:20-21). That indeed happened and that is why we refer to the Almighty as the God of Abraham, Isaac AND Jacob.
Many of us can relate to the notion that we are of faith because we were taught this faith as children. But just like Jacob, we must all cultivate our own relationship with God, and not just ride our parent’s coat tails. It is in this spirit that David entreated the Lord to teach him the way in which he was to go. No longer relying on the tradition and experiences of others, David understood the necessity of learning from God firsthand so that he may know the ways of the Lord and walk in His truth.
None of us can hope to comprehend the truth all at once; it is a journey. Like all who have come before us, God teaches us the essence of His ways step-by-step, lesson by lesson, experience by experience. In other words, we come into an understanding of truth through a personal relationship with the Creator; we comprehend His way as we make our way through life. I am sincerely grateful and appreciative of what I learned of God from my parents and others but, in the end, their experiences did not help me to have a better relationship with God in the way my own experiences have. No longer is He the God of my fathers — He is my God and I think that is the way He always wanted it to be.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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