As the class started, my professor told us he had good news and bad news. He shared the bad news first... "I do not have your papers from the last two weeks ready to return to you."
Irritated, I rolled my eyes as I thought to myself, "The only reason I came to this dumb class was for those papers. I ought to just leave." However, something told me that I needed to stay in my seat for the rest of the class.
My professor then proceeded to give us the good news... "I have decided to cut the length of your final paper in half, on one condition. You are to watch this short film (Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West) and write a short summary of what you took from the film. If you don't want to do that, you can continue with the original assignment."
Again, I thought to myself, "Well, this is definitely doable, and it's a lot easier than the original assignment. I guess coming to class wasn't so bad after all." However, I was still slightly irritated that I couldn't continue working on the rest of my papers without my previous ones being handed back.
Then he reached for his things and pulled out a large bag of assorted keys. (Talk about weird.) He then proceeded to pass out an individual key to me and the rest of my classmates. I was slightly confused, but I ended up with one, which in my opinion, was pretty cute (for a key). So of course, being the girly girl that I can be at times, I snapped this picture.
He then asked us if anyone was familiar with the verse Luke 11:52.
(Now keep in mind: yes, I do go to a Christian university, however I was not in a Christian studies class or any type of biblical class for that matter. I was just in one of my regular ole psychology classes, student research.)
None of us knew the verse off of the top of our heads, so he pulled his Bible out of his bag and gave it to the student in front of me to read the verse. It stated: "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering."
After he finished reading, my professor asked us if we knew what the key of knowledge was. A student to my right said, "The fear of The Lord is the key to knowledge" and she was so right.
My professor then asked her how she knew that, and she proceeded to quote Proverbs 1:7, which says: "The fear of The Lord is the foundation of true knowledge."
At this point in time, I was on the edge of my seat completely focused on where he was going with this analogy.
My professor then proceeded to tell us that the film he was asking us to watch (if we chose to do so in lieu of our original assignment) was slightly disturbing. He explained to us how hard it would be to have our eyes opened to something that the most of us were probably blinded to. He told us that our government was very similar to the lawyers that were spoken of in the verse that my classmate just read. With that in mind, he asked us to hold the key that he gave us in our right hand while we watched the film as a source of comfort.
At that moment things started to click for me.
He gave us that key as a tangible reminder of the The Lord, our Source of comfort in times of need, our Source of knowledge if we simply ask, and our Source of wisdom and understanding (Isaiah 11:2).
My professor must have seen the fascination on my face, because he then asked me if I thought he was crazy. I quickly responded with, "No, not at all."
My whole mindset of the day's class changed in that moment as I thought to myself, "He isn't crazy. He isn't crazy at all. My psychology professor just shared the Gospel with me and my fellow classmates through an assignment that was given to us in order to lighten our load this semester."
A few minutes later and after some further discussion amongst the class, he dismissed us.
I left refreshed. I left joyful. I left reminded that The Lord is sovereign, that He is my comfort, and that fearing Him is the key to knowledge. I left reminded that things may not always go as planned, that at times I will be inconvenienced and irritated; but The Lord always has a plan, and that plan is far greater than anything I could have formed for myself.
I have a feeling that I will be using this key as a reminder of The Lord more often than my professor intended for during that short film he asked us to watch.....
Oh how thankful I am for days like today.
