Learning Impairments

Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.  Psalm 119:73

Just as there are developmental impairments in children, learning impairments exist in God’s children as well.  Each of our stories render us incapable of learning certain kingdom truths.  Some of us can’t trust because our trust has been fractured.  Others of us can’t receive love because we withdrew our arms early in life.  Some can’t believe that God forgives because their relationships have been fraught with grudge holding.

When one of our children is stuck in their spiritual life, who better to understand the barrier than a parent.  We know the child well; what he believes, what successes and failures have shaped his life.  We are able to pray intuitively because we know how he’s wired.

So it is with God.  He made us.  He knows our stories and not only knows how we reacted to what happened to us, he understands how we interpreted the events that led us to react like we did.  He is intimately acquainted with our learning impairments.  He knows the network of lies at the root of the disability.

There are places each of us are stuck today; experiences God wants to have with us but we aren’t open to it.  Our arms are crossed.  Distrust and fear lock us up.  God has the key and is willing to unlock our heart.  His strategy to reach us is customized according to our individual design.  Oh, what a magnificent Savior.  He goes to great lengths to save us from ourselves.  Our defenses crumble under His persistent, yet gentle, wooing.

Where am I still scared of You, Lord?  Show me.  Amen