As I read Cowper in The
Cloud of Witness readings today (Lyttelton Gell, 163), it reminded me of
how educationalist Charlotte Mason says that the child comes to know who God
is, his character and nature, by degree through the unfolding of the Scripture
itself. She also believes that it isn’t
'how much the child knows, but how much he cares' that places the scholar in
wide spaces of rich living.
This morning, I reflect upon the idea that this is true for
us too; though ‘faint and slow’, we grow from what we have learned in the light
of the Word as we choose to know him more and are changed to reflect Christ a
little more. I’ve been reading through the wisdom literature of the Bible; it
continually reminds me that wisdom is to be desired above all things and is chosen
by those who would know God.
Their fortitude and wisdom were a
flame
Celestial,
though they knew not whence it came,
Derived from the same source of
Light and grace,
That guides the Christian in his
swifter race;
Their judge was Conscience, and her
rule their law;
That rule, pursued with reverence
and with awe,
Led them, however faltering, faint
and slow,
From what they knew to what they
wished to know.
~
Cowper
