“Psa. 51:1       Have mercy on me, O God,

                        according to your steadfast love;

             according to your abundant mercy

                        blot out my transgressions.

²           Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

                        and cleanse me from my sin!

Psa. 51:3         For I know my transgressions,

                        and my sin is ever before me.

⁴           Against you, you only, have I sinned

                        and done what is evil in your sight,

             so that you may be justified in your words

                        and blameless in your judgment.

⁵           Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

                        and in sin did my mother conceive me.

⁶           Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

                        and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Psa. 51:7         Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

                        wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸           Let me hear joy and gladness;

                        let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

⁹           Hide your face from my sins,

                        and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰         Create in me a clean heart, O God,

                        and renew a right spirit within me.

¹¹         Cast me not away from your presence,

                        and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

¹²         Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

                        and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Psa. 51:13       Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

                        and sinners will return to you.

¹⁴         Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

                        O God of my salvation,

                        and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

¹⁵         O Lord, open my lips,

                        and my mouth will declare your praise.

¹⁶         For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

                        you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

¹⁷         The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

                        a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psa. 51:18       Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

                        build up the walls of Jerusalem;

¹⁹         then will you delight in right sacrifices,

                        in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

                        then bulls will be offered on your altar.” (English Standard Version)

I am trying to learn Spanish. This morning I encountered a different nuance to the word enseñar. I knew that the word meant “to teach”, but I was not sure what to do with it in the following nonsensical translation: “I am teaching them the offices.” However, I soon learned that enseñar can also mean “to show”.

“Oh, that makes sense,” I said to myself. “I am showing them the offices.”

Of course, there is no language that has one (and only one) meaning for every word. Some words may be used very broadly to mean many different things, and some words may be very specific in their usage, but no language has only one meaning for every single word. Nobody wants to speak or write or learn a language with a gazillion words to the nth power.

But then, my tangential attention went somewhere else. I thought, “Huh! To show and to teach! I wonder what happens if you put those two nuances together and encourage them to have a more or less civil conversation. Who knows? They might become friends.”

At that very moment a blinding flash of the obvious struck me: The truth is that the best way to teach is to show.

The Bible has much to say about this. For example, the Apostle Paul writes to Titus, a leader in the early church,

“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,

and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.” (Titus 2:7-8, English Standard Version)

I think that the word order is significant here. First, show yourself to be a model who is doing the good works. Then you can teach others to do that.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:19 also come to mind. In a discussion of the Old Testament Law, Jesus says, “Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (English Standard Version)

Notice that Jesus also puts doing before teaching. Keeping the commandments, according to Jesus, needs to accompany and precede teaching.

In a similar—yet very different way—in Psalm 51, we see this same dynamic relationship between showing-by-doing and teaching. David says, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” (Psalm 51:13).

However, this pledge to teach sinners comes only after he has shown his terrible wickedness to God and to other worshipers in this psalm. Apparently, even not doing God’s will can make us good teachers. There is hope, even for those of us who (like me) have not always done things God’s way. But the teaching comes only after the confession.[1]

God wants us to teach others by showing them the way, not by telling them off. Our positive trust in God and obedience to God is our primary teaching tool. That is most pleasing to God and the best approach to teaching others. However, even our wrongs can be a means of showing others the right way, provided we don’t give up on ourselves or God’s forgiveness.

I was at Kroger yesterday, and asked one of the workers where I could find the fiber powder. “Aisle 39, bottom shelf,” she replied, pointing me in the right direction. I turned in the direction she had pointed, and immediately realized that the aisle numbers started at 31 and got smaller. However, my guide did not abandon me. She realized the error of her ways and found me right away. “I am sorry. I am so confused!” And then she took me took the right aisle and pointed at the fiber powder. (Yes, it really was on the bottom shelf!) I was impressed with both the young lady’s knowledge and her humble admission of her mistake. I was even more impressed with her when she pointed at the fiber powder. If she hadn’t, I might have come home with talcum powder.

God is powerful enough to use our good showings and our bad showings to lead others to God and to a better way of living. I am searching for one word in English/American that conveys this concept. I can’t think of one. However, perhaps I can boil it down to four words: humble obedience and honesty.

[1] Of course, God already knew precisely about David’s evil deeds, but I’m not sure David really knew how deadly serious things were until God confronted him and David confessed his wrongdoing. Sometimes, we don’t know how bad things are until we confess how bad things are.