How’s your memory? Let’s take a test and see what you can recall. I’ll start the first part of a saying and you finish it.
“Like a good neighbor…”
“Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you …”
This one is old school: “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter, No ……..”
How did you do? Did you spend any of your personal time memorizing these? For most of us, you heard these commercials over and over and they stuck. I think you know where I’m going with this. Let’s try this again but with Bible verses.
“For God so loved the world,..” (John 3:16).
“And now why do you tarry…” (Act 22:16).
“And we know that all things work together…” (Romans 8:28).
Were you able to recite the three above just as easy as it was to say the advertisement jingles? If yes, great. If not, it just means that you need more time in God’s word. Just like the commercials we are constantly exposed to, we need to be exposed to the word of God with the same repetition to be able to recite the word just as naturally. Even if you have read through a portion of the Bible, every additional time you read it there will be new information that pops out. This could be through a different part of history being revealed, a specific location having a greater significance, and translated words you have read having a deeper, more fulfilling meaning. You will start to understand more how they felt during the 1st Century when confronted by foes and the joy they experienced over souls being added to the body of Christ.
You may not recall chapters and verses, but you will be able to recall the history written on the pages…for example, Ananias’s conversion with Paul at Damascus or a charter in Paul’s letter to Corinth about division in the church. When people ask us questions about the Bible or how we view a biblical matter, we can with certainty recall what we have read and studied.
Never say “I can’t learn”. Rather, pray for recollection and take up your Bible daily. You will be surprised at what the Lord can do with willing hearts. May it never be said of us, “My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).