Faith

Is Experience the Best Teacher?

by Curt Klingeman
03/02/25
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A Common Misconception

People like to say, “Experience is the best teacher.” If that is true, why do we often have to repeat lessons? It does play a role in our learning; however, Holy Spirit is the Best Teacher Who uses our experiences as part of His lesson plan. This latter point should give us comfort.

Terrible Experiences

Unfortunately, people will have bad experiences in life. Some will be horrendous. It is inevitable. No one goes unscathed. It is the result of living in a fallen world. Naturally, many have questioned the goodness of God, and why He would allow people to suffer. The latter point will not be addressed here; however, His goodness will be.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
   Many find comfort in this passage of Scripture, which does point to His goodness. Every foul experience, no matter how disastrous, will work out to the good for those who love God, because He is involved. That doesn’t mean He caused it; it means He concerns Himself with how it affects us. This shows the humility of God. How so?
Psalms 113:4-9 The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high, Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of His people. He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD (NASB)!
Psalms 8:4 What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?
   When going through the thick of things, we can forget the awesomeness of God, Who made us to be His children. We were once sinners, and yet He saved us through the Lord Jesus. In fact, He still calls to those who are lost in their sin. Think about this: He is high above all things. Because He is God, He can do whatever He desires. He could simply stomp us out of existence, or completely ignore us. And yet, He concerns Himself with our affairs, and will wipe away every tear. He is very aware of our sufferings. In fact, He is more aware of it than us.
Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
   No one has ever suffered more than Jesus Christ. No one! Remember, we are the reason for His suffering. Through His suffering, He reconciled us onto God, and opened the door to our ultimate comfort. He invites us to come to Him in our distress.  Moreover, He sent Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness (see John 16: 1-33). Jesus called Him the Comforter, which reveals the depth of His compassion for us.

The Ultimate Teacher

John 16:13-15 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you (NASB).
   Our Lord did not leave us to our own devises. We don’t have to grope in the darkness for the answers. Sure, we can try to figure things out for ourselves, but even the ability to figure things out comes from Him. There’s no such thing as the self-made man! There is a problem with trying to figure things out on our own; especially when it comes to spiritual matters.
1 Corinthians 2:11-13 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words (NASB, read entire chapter).
   By trying to figure things out for ourselves, we often miss so much. For instance, people will never truly understand the Bible by using natural reason. True wisdom comes from above, and the best lessons come from Holy Spirit. In fact, the better students we become, and more we listen to Him, the less we will learn the hard way! Think relationally, He wants to do life with us.

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