I like to learn new things and learn more about old things. When family and friends tease me about my favorite TV channel being the History Channel, I like to remind them that if I can learn something and have fun doing it, it's the best of worlds. Actually, the one program I watch daily - and have for many years - is Jeopardy. I enjoy the challenge of trying to see how many questions I can get right - in response to their answers. I do pretty well - as long as it's a category that covers my short range of knowledge. Please, no opera or poetry! I prefer history, news, and even geography, and of course, any Bible categories. I have to admit that I have missed several Bible related answers through the years. Usually it was some obscure name or thing that would never appear in a class or sermon. Still, you can't know it all, and I was really glad that millions of viewers weren't laughing at "The Preacher" who blew it on national TV!
I watch it for the fun of it, and not because I want to impress anyone, or even be impressed with myself. If I don't know something - big deal - who cares! No one knows everything, right? Well, excuse me - Who is God?
As I study God's Word and move from book to book and testament to testament, I am constantly struck with how much I don't know, and - more distressing - how much I've forgotten. How many times while preparing for my Wednesday class on Genesis have I found myself saying, "Wow! I never noticed that!" or "Oh man - I forgot all about that!"? And then I'll be skipping through multiple books of the Bible as I prepare my sermon, and find myself reading something that totally grabs my heart and causes me to feel like it has been way too long since I've been in that book!
I don't know - is God's Word just so big and so full that a lifetime of studying it will just make you hungry for more? Am I that forgetful, or are there just so many great treasures to be discovered in its pages that refreshing the mind is as much a part of growing as discovering it the first time? Jesus did say that the Word was a seed. I guess - how the seed grows is totally dependent on how good the soil is. If the soil is good and the seed germinates and grows, doesn't that mean it will never be the same any two days in a row? Both the soil and the seed?
1 comment:
Oh Mike, I can SO relate to this. I marvel at the times I read something and ask myself why I had not seen that before. In answer to your questions in the last paragraph, "I hope so!, Yes!, yes!, amen, and amen". Oh, to hunger and thirst for His Word!
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