Isa 50:4

Isa 50:4  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.  In Isaiah 50, God asks the children of Israel who are in exile in Babylon these questions: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you?” (v.1, ESV). Of course there is none! God has never put them (referring to Israel, and here represented by the mother) away. Neither has God owe money to anyone that He has to sell His children to pay His debts. God loves them and will never do such a thing. Israel has made this complaint earlier: “The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me” (Isaiah 49:14). They are saying: “If God loves them, why are they in captivity?” God answers His own questions: “Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away” (v.1b). They are the cause of their own calamities. They can blame none but themselves and their own sins for all their captivities and miseries. But Israel cannot see that the problem lies with them. So, someone needs to tell them. So, Isaiah, the servant of God, says: “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” (v.4). The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned: He acknowledges it is God who has given him the ability to speak wisely like a learned man. And, the purpose of this gift is: “That I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.” What a glorious use of the tongue of the learned! That I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary - A fool utters with his tongue but comes out only foolish talks that are unprofitable and even cause contentions. A wise speaks with wisdom that benefits his hearers. Solomon says: “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24). God wants us to speak goodly words of comfort to the weary. He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned - The allusion is an instructor who awakens his pupils early in the morning in order that they may receive instruction. The servant's task is to speak God's word to sustain the weary. But, the servant of God must first become a student of God’s word so that he can instruct others: “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). Every Bible class teacher needs to have the attitude of Ezra: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments” (Ezra 7:10). God expects His servants to prepare themselves for the service. Paul instructs young Timothy to study in order to be a servant approved by God (2 Timothy 2:15). Isaiah says God awakens him morning by morning; it shows a daily instruction on the word of God. You don’t train a soldier today and send him out to the battlefront tomorrow. Likewise, a good Bible class teacher is one who prepares himself daily and not the day before he is assigned to teach: “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:2).