What I Learned From My Students

 I don’t know if you have ever had the opportunity to work with special needs children but it is an experience that I highly recommend. My experience began when, as a veteran teacher, I was assigned one class of resource science students. Resource classes are for students with a wide range of learning disabilities. I was honestly not looking forward to it since my favorite teaching assignments had always been advanced high school classes of college bound students. It wasn’t a week into this new assignment until I realized I had been missing out on so much joy all those years without them in my classes. I have tried to reflect on why they were so delightful to be around and this is what, I believe, it boils down to: humility and simple trust.

My resource students didn’t worry about all the things that other kids worried about. They were so much more free and joyous. They didn’t worry about what the other kids thought about them. They trusted and they were guileless. They let others look out for them. I will never forget the baptism of one of our special needs kids at our church. If you ever have seen baptisms, you know there is a procedure to it and it is very structured for safety. But when this dear child of God came up out of the water she did a full-on cheer with arms raised high and jumped up and down looking to the sky with the look of ecstasy on her face. She was radiant!

Luke 18:15-17 MSG People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. "Let these children alone. Don't get between them and me. These children are the kingdom's pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in."

Can you imagine letting go and trusting God like this everyday? To step into this we must let go of any thoughts that we are superior to anyone else in any way. We must let go of our self reliance and adopt a God-reliant attitude. We must trust Him and give up trusting ourselves. I really think that it is those of us who are not special needs that have a handicap. We mistakenly think we are smart enough or experienced enough to navigate our day on our own power. We depend on no one and nothing but ourselves. After all, we have diplomas and college degrees. We have passed classes like organic chemistry for crying out loud! We have studied under professors that would make you cry. We are stinking brilliant in our own eyes. We know things.

But can we see our “brilliance” in the light of the creator of the universe? We don’t know what will happen next Tuesday, much less tomorrow or the next hour. We are handicapped and we have no idea. We need to realize it and lean into it so we can experience the Kingdom of God here and now. We need to let go of all thoughts of being self-reliant and become God-reliant. With that will come joy. How do I know? My resource students taught me this.

Layers

It is with hesitation that I address this scripture. It is a story I have heard since I was knee high to a watermelon.  It is a heart-wrenching story, a story woven throughout thousands of years of history with a link from the Old Testament to the New Testament. At face value it is hard to comprehend. It has spoken to me in different ways on more than one occasion. It has so many layers! It is found in Genesis 22:1-19 when Abraham obediently follows God to sacrifice his promised son and was stopped at the last minute by God.  Following, are some of the layers that I have discovered in this story throughout my life. 

As a child, my first take, or layer on this story was simple obedience to God.  He can be trusted. In my childlike faith, this was probably my best take on this story.  It was later in life as a young adult that I questioned this story.  I thought maybe Abraham was mistaken because God never sacrifices children. In history it is only those pagan gods like Molek that demand such a heinous act.  So I tried to explain away Abraham’s situation thinking he must have been confused and God straightened him out. This was me wrestling with truth.  

But as so often happens, wrestling with truth drags us to enlightenment. About a year ago I discovered a new layer in this story. At the time, I was struggling more than I usually do with fear.  Knowing that fear is the opposite of faith, I turned to this heart-wrenching story.  That is when it dawned on me that Abraham knew God was going to make it right and trusted Him even though he didn't know how it was going to play out.  So he followed in obedience and yes, God made it right.  That was faith.  

As a professional questioner, it is so hard for me to trust God when I can’t see his plan.  But this is the first step in replacing fear with faith.  It starts with a choice, like Abraham who must have chosen to fix his eyes on the victory rather than the  difficulties.  It is not belittling the difficulties, for they are very real.  It is looking beyond the trials to the victory that God has given.  It is a change in point of view.  It is looking at God and not at the flailing mess that surrounds me.  I must do my part of preparation for the battle but with my eyes on the victory the entire time; remembering that it is God’s victory over my fear. 

Today, Genesis 22 is my morning scripture and I go back to read it.  The first two verses say: 

Genesis 22:1-2 NIV

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him,“Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

I again think, "Why would our loving God tell Abraham to sacrifice this only child?   Hold it...I see a note I made in my Bible from Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World by Josh and Sean McDowell.  It labels this verse as ‘type’. The note says, 'a type foreshadows or prefigures what the New Testament says.'  When did God ever sacrifice an only child in the New Testament?  And it hit me like a train. This is evidence that God knew then how His plan would play out; that his only Son would be sacrificed for our sins. 

So reading on in verses 6-8, I found another reference in my Bible from the aforementioned-book-with-the-long-name. Again it said ‘type’.  

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

In verse 6, did you see it?  God did it again.  Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice just as Jesus carried the cross for his.  

So I read on and find another note from the same source in verse 13. 

Genesis 22:13 NIV

[13] Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

The note in the margin said, "It is worthy of our attention that the provision was made of a ram rather than a lamb.  This suggests that the lamb that had been promised was still to be provided".  

Wow!  God had and has this thing all figured out.  I can trust him. He has a plan.