Experience is the best teacher.
And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. (Genesis 30:27)
Over the course of His life, the Son learned all the Father wanted to teach Him. The deepest lessons He learned came through the sufferings He faced.
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered (Hebrews 5:8)
Jesus is qualified to be our Teacher in all things because He was an A+ Student of all the Father taught Him.
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him (Hebrews 5:9)
The “tongue of the learned” is gained in the classrooms of life God has placed us in. Those who are weary and heavy laden can come to Jesus for comfort because He fully learned all God designed for Him to learn in the school of suffering appointed Him.
The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. (Isaiah 50:4-7)
The Corinthians gloried in ministers who appeared learned or effective. Paul let them know that his ministry arose out of a deep awareness of his ignorance and weakness.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought (1 Corinthians 2:1-6)
The Corinthian church very much wanted to be used of God. Paul gave them insight into the basis of effectual ministry.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. (2 Corinthians 1:3-6)
Souls suffer when there are none to comfort them in their afflictions.
Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. (Psalm 69:20)
Job’s friends fashioned themselves as wise counselors, but Job saw them as “miserable comforters.”
Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief. (Job 16:1-5)
Seasons of want and long “valleys of weeping” are golden opportunities to find refreshing and strength as we draw near to God
Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. (Psalm 84:5-7)
Baca > weeping
For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. (Jeremiah 31:25)
“satiated” > watered
As God fills our cup, it can overflow to others.
The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life… (Proverbs 10:11)
The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook. (Proverbs 18:4)
Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly. (Proverbs 16:22)
We cannot give to others what we have not first received. We cannot teach others what we have not learned.
… Freely ye have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:8)
The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. (2 Timothy 2:6)
When those who would minister to others are not receiving the ministry God would give them there is a “famine” of “hearing the words of the Lord” in the land. People who need ministry faint because they are not being ministered to.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. (Amos 8:11-13)