What the Bible says about God as Educator
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Genesis 18:14 God was working things out in Abraham's and Sarah's lives, and He had His own schedule for bringing them to the point of development where He could use them the way He wanted to. Is this unusual? No, it is not unusual at all. We all operate according to time schedules; we all set priorities about things. A teacher has 180 days in which to get across that year's knowledge to the student for him to advance to the next grade. Teachers operate in a similar way to God. God may have said to Himself, "It will take Me so long to bring Abraham and Sarah through a series of training programs until their faith, convictions, and character are to the point that I can really use them. Then, at the appointed time, Sarah will have the child." Abraham and Sarah had to cooperate with this. They had to yield to God's way and to exercise the faith that they had. If they were really tuned into God, if God was the center of their life, they would see in this process of time and experience through which God was putting them (what we call tests, discipline, or chastening) that positive and good progress or change was taking place in their lives. John W. Ritenbaugh Conviction, Moses, and Us Related Topics: Abraham and Sarah | God as Educator | God's Chastening | God's Discipline

Romans 2:4 Paul's statement assumes the people to whom he is writing know better than they are doing, and therefore, they had better repent. But whether we repent in ignorance or in knowledge, it is God's goodness, a gift of God, the grace of God, that leads to repentance. Whether it happens at our initial conversion, or whether we are later brought to repentance over some specific fault of which we need to repent to continue growing, God is on the job. He is leading, guiding, showing us where we need to change. He is probably even affecting our feelings about what we are doing so that there will be the motivation, the empowerment, and therefore the responsibility, the right, and the power to repent. God is the Great Educator, and at the same time, He is a parent chastening, disciplining, training His children. John W. Ritenbaugh Faith (Part Five) Related Topics: God as Educator | God as Parent | God's Chastening | God's Discipline | God's Grace | Grace | Repentance | Repentance, Motivation For | Repentance, Opportunity for

Hebrews 12:7 God Himself is educating His children. The people to whom Hebrews was written had a history of making light of His working with them, and the result was that they neglected it. John W. Ritenbaugh What Is the Work of God Now? (Part Two) Related Topics: Drifting Spiritually | God as Educator | God as Parent | Hebrews as Apathetic | Hebrews as Lethargic | Hebrews, Book of | Neglect

 

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