A Little Bit Slow

Oh how often do I feel like I need to be 'held back a grade' when it comes to studying God's Word.  So many times I could feel like the author of Hebrews is talking to me when he says, "it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn." in 5:11. 

By this time, I should be a teacher, but still so often need someone to teach me the elementary truths of God's Word all over again.  Why does it take so long to sink in?  Why do I sit and read and feel like it all just flew right over my head?  Is it just a waste of my time?

All these questions usually plague me down, but I have found that the old adage really is true.  (Funny how all of those old adages that stick around for all that time really do seem to be true.)  Practice makes perfect.  Now, I will never be perfect this side of heaven, but filling myself with the Word of God every day can help me understand His perfect Son and how He lived and how I can try to model my life like His.

Thankfully, I have found that practice does make perfect, even when it comes to reading my Bible and letting the Holy Spirit teach me the elementary truths of God's Word.  I have found the more time I spend in it, the more time I pray about it and the more time I take to sit and process it, the more I learn and understand what God and the Holy Spirit are trying to teach me.  I have fewer and fewer days where I feel like the words I just read flew right over my head with every time I take the chance to read and study His word.

I must also confess that another great resource for me in learning how to more effectively study the Bible on my own was the book A Modern Girls Guide to Bible Study by Jen Hatmaker.  This hilarious author offers up real truths and practical ways of learning how to get more from your time in the Bible.  I highly recommend it!

Father, please forgive me for being so slow.  As long as I have known you, I should be a teacher of your truths, but so often I feel like I am still an infant.  Help me to learn all that I can from my time with you and also to be able to retain it so that I can use it in the future.  Your Word is so good for me and my life, again, help me desire to be in it each and every day.