Learning lessons from God’s Word and His world

Think for a minute about how different you are today than you were 20, 30 or 40 years ago. You’re likely smarter. You’ve no doubt been refined by years of marriage, parenting and maybe grandparenting. You’ve been shaped by a long career and by new friends and neighbors. Whether you’re now 40 or have moved past 80, you’ve changed a lot in the last 20 years.
Now think about the fact that we’re creatures who are meant to change. By God’s design, we’re always adapting to new circumstances. We grow and learn. We change our attitudes and shuffle our priorities. The truth is our life, gifts and skills didn’t come to us in their full and final form; everything about us develops over time and with experience.
Learning, then, is more than gathering information. There’s more to it (though not less) than studying God’s Word or picking up a new skill. When we look back, most of  us see that life’s lessons mostly come from day-to-day living. We’re thrust into new situations and must act. We make mistakes and need to correct them. We see new examples. We learn, then, not only by knowing the Bible, but by understanding how God’s world works.
With that in mind, let’s also consider that God’s purposes and our calling are never stagnant. We face new questions and new challenges all the time. And in every case, we want to respond in a way that glorifies God (1 Corinthians 10:31) but we know the Bible doesn’t answer every question. It doesn’t tell us how to make the most of AI or where to invest our money or which car to buy. So, we apply scripture’s principles and precepts as best we can and then move forward.
We get a better feel for how this works in Isaiah 28:23-29. The passage is a lesson in agriculture. It explains that the Lord teaches farmers how to grow crops, but He doesn’t do it directly. As Isaiah explains, farmers learn from the soil and seeds God made. Every day God’s creation informs them when to turn the soil, when to level the surface, to sow caraway and scatter cumin. Day by day farmers watch, and lesson by lesson they learn how agriculture works. And they, along with Isaiah, conclude that God is “wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.” 
When we learn from experience, even when it’s trial and error, it’s God who teaches us. 

The same holds true for engineering, architecture, economics, accounting, manufacturing. It’s the intrinsic properties of God’s creation that guide us. “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork,” says Psalm 19. “Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”
Now turn to Psalm 119:105; there we see the flip side of this coin: God’s Word,” the psalmist explains, is “a lamp unto (our) path.” Lamps, of course, are no good to us if we look at the lamp; they’re only valuable when they cast light on the things around us. And though God’s Word rarely reveals the details of our current issues, it does tend to clarify them. What’s more, given that our minds have been darkened by sin, the light of God’s word aways brings needed perspective (Romans 1:20, 21).
Author Paul Marshall underscores the point that God’s Word doesn’t just shed light; it sheds light on our path. In other words, it shows us the way forward; it enables us to better understand every issue, every challenge, every relationship and every cultural institution we encounter.
When we study God’s Word, then, we’re better prepared to study His world. As Marshall points out, we need to read Genesis and study engineering. We need to understand Philippians and know how city government works. We contemplate Psalms and Proverbs and learn more about literature and poetry. 
Because God’s “counsel and wisdom” have been woven into his creation, we understand that business meets one objective while science serves another; that art makes one kind of cultural contribution, while government exists for altogether different reasons. And by his Word God has given us the capacity to know what’s good, right and true.
In whatever we do, then, God’s implores us to listen to and learn from his creation. And then, by our knowledge of His Word, to know that in everything there’s a moral way and a wise way. And our world blossoms when we conform to it.

Richard Doster lives in Fernandina Beach with his wife, Sally. He’s the editor of byFaith, the magazine of the Presbyterian Church in America. Reach him at ddoster@icloud.com.