There are some days when I really miss teaching.

Every school morning was the same. The students said the pledges (to both the American and Christian flag), prayed for government leaders, pastors and parents, then listened attentively to the Bible story of the day.

I loved to watch the reactions of my first graders as I would reveal to them the Word of God.

When I told them that God formed man from the dust of the earth, I watched as they pretended to scoop up earth, then mold it.

They then breathed into their imaginary creations when I said that God breathed into man the breath of life.

When we learned of the plagues, the boys initially grinned at the mention of all of those frogs and the girls were disgusted by the thought of swarming flies.

When I taught them the story of God parting the Red Sea, the students looked to their left and to their right in amazement as they tried to imagine what it would be like to walk on a seabed with a wall of water on each side.

The children’s reactions to the daily Bible lessons were sometimes funny, but always spontaneous and sincere.

One day, I told them that while Moses was up on the mountain talking to God, the people became worried because it was taking so long and asked Aaron to make them a god since they didn’t know what had happened to Moses.

Some of the students actually opened their mouths in amazement when they were told Aaron collected jewelry and made it into a calf-shaped idol. One student, Reece,  blurted out, “What was Aaron thinking?!”

The class couldn’t believe the Israelites would so quickly forget the miracles that God had performed on their behalf.

As soon as their leader was away, they wanted a substitute god to serve. How foolish to think a god that they created would ever have any power.

It would be wonderful if we would all learn from the mistakes of the Israelites, but sometimes I believe that we, too, forget about all that God has done.

We forget about the bondages that have been broken in our lives and the freedoms that have been purchased by Jesus, and look for another recipient of our devotion.

If we pick and choose the commandments that we obey, we are trying to form God into what we believe is right, shaping Him according to our preferences. Trying to justify behavior that doesn’t line up to the Word is an attempt to change and form God into our way of thinking and living.

As we used to say in First Grade, if someone doesn’t agree with the Bible, the Bible’s still right because God is God.

If your prayer doesn’t get answered the way you think it should, you still serve God because God is God. And if God said to do something, even something like hitting a rock with a stick to get water (Exodus 17:6), you obey, because God is God. Just think, if God made water come out of a rock, there’s no limit as to what He can do through us!

Ronny Michel may be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.