Teaching What Is Best

 

“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.”

—Isaiah 48:17b

Depending on the person or persons we tend to follow and emulate, we will either learn good of bad habits. You may have had the experience growing up where your parents objected to one or more of your playmates. “I think Larry is a very bad influence,” your mother or father may have said.

It didn’t really matter to you. You thought Larry was very cool. You liked his irreverent approach to life and especially his disdain for older people, like parents and teachers. In fact, it seemed as if Larry’s approach to life had much more fun and zing to it. Of course you were going to follow Larry and do what he did. After all, you, too, wanted to be a “fun person.”

Perhaps somewhere along the line, Larry got into serious trouble. In fact, you got into trouble, too, because of your association with Larry. And, perhaps this made you re-think your relationship with Larry just a bit. Yes, Larry was a fun guy. But, sometimes Larry’s idea of fun spelled trouble for himself and anyone who followed closely after him.

Even in our adult lives, we need to take note of the kind of people that we choose to follow. As a life-long non-drinker, I have often sat at business dinners and watched my companions become plastered. As the time went on, they began to say things they shouldn’t have said, even revealing confidential information from their employers.

Now, I want to hasten to state that I am definitely not a better person than these folks are. I have my own long list of besetting sins. I’m just fortunate that early on in my life I decided to abstain from alcoholic beverages. It’s a habit that I’ve chosen to maintain throughout my life.

One time, after a particularly long dinner where everyone but me became quite inebriated, one of my colleagues said to me through a very slurred tongue, “You know, I don’t trust you. You don’t drink. I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t drink. It’s not natural.”

I started to chuckle. But, just as he finished his little speech, he tripped over a raised portion of the sidewalk, fell flat on his face, and simply couldn’t get up. Two of his drunken companions tried to help him up and soon joined him flat out on the sidewalk. Just then a police car came by. The police officers got out and helped get all three of my dinner companions on their feet and into the back of the police car. One officer got really close to me to try to smell my breath.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” I replied. “I don’t drink.”

“Good for you,” he said, as he got into the police car and drove the three drunks to the station house.

At the meeting the next day, the three dinner companions seemed very bleary-eyed and asked the rest of us to refrain from making any loud noises. I took note that two of these men normally did not seem to drink very much. However, on this one occasion, led on by the one true alcoholic in the group, they became entrapped in an incident that I imagine they regret. Or, maybe they don’t.

The Prophet Isaiah made the following declaration to the people of Israel, and, thus, to us who have been grafted in to the vine of God’s chosen people, as recorded in Isaiah 48:17:

This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.”

Following God puts us in contact with the One who always wants the best for us. He will not lead us astray. Instead, He will teach us what is best for us.

As we start another day, let’s rejoice that we have the opportunity to follow this God who loves us enough to set an example for us. If we follow after Him, we will not stumble or fall and we will stay on the path that leads to true and everlasting life.

 

_{Copyright © 2016 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}