2022 Lent Devotional – Day 8

A teachable heart

¹ To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.  ⁴ Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. …
⁶ Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.
⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord! Psalm 25

The introspection during the days of Lent reveals the truth of our hearts.  As we journey through this period of self-reflection, repentance, and strengthening of our faith, there is an ardent need to affirm our faith and sing praises to the Lord for His mighty works in our lives. There needs to be an acceptance of our flaws and weaknesses, and with this acceptance, we need to lift our hearts to the Lord with repentance. However, this repentance should be done, not as a ritual but with a heart full of humility, knowing fully well that He knows our inadequacies, our weaknesses and will forgive us for the wrong paths taken in our lives.  We need to be aware of our fragility.

Pride plateaus in its learning, but a teachable heart continues to scale the mountain of truth, understanding, and wisdom. (Wisdomhunters.com)

While repenting, it becomes all the more imperative to open our hearts and be willing to be corrected, so that we are in a position to learn from the Lord and also from those around us. Having a teachable heart starts with practicing humility as it is a pre-requisite to faith.  As long as you remain humble, you will have the ability to take advice, learn, be coached and taught.  A teachable heart is positioned to receive learning and possesses an attitude to question more than answer.

God looks out and chooses a teachable heart and works on it with love, patience, and understanding. A teachable heart is called ‘wise’ because this heart is willing to learn the ways of God. A heart full of pride will never learn anything new than what they know whereas a teachable heart will never stop learning.  We need to shout out to the Lord, acknowledging that we are inadequate and be willing to hear His voice and leading.

There will be times when we will be disoriented and confused, let us not remain fallen but remember, that we have the assurance of our living God. Let us lift ourselves up to Him and surrender ourselves in His care and in return, He will instil in us, a teachable heart and a heart that is willing to learn, change, grow and develop.

Prayer

Be merciful O Lord and hear our prayers! We are weak, we reach out to you to strengthen our minds and hearts. Open our hearts to hear your leading, Lord !  Work in our hearts and make our hearts listen to you and be willing to be moulded according to your will. Teach us and shape us Lord to be your instruments of love and peace to those around us. We pray that we may become teachable and be willing to learn from you and from those who are around us, Lord.

In your precious name, we pray, Amen !

Mrs. Sonia Daniel