Walking the path

(2-minute read)

Only the baby bird is fed in the nest. All the rest must leave the nest and search for the provision.

I was 25 years old when I had a salvation experience with the Lord. I knew a few Bible stories, but other than that, I really didn’t know anything. I knew the Lord saved me, but I didn’t know why. I felt so far behind everyone else. I studied as much as I could, trying to catch up. This continued for several years until I realized I hadn’t learned anything new for weeks.

I began to pray, “Lord, what’s wrong with me? How can I stop learning while I am still so ignorant?”

When the Lord answered that prayer, it surprised me. It was as if the Lord opened my eyes so that I could see myself like I would another person. I’d be sitting in church listening to someone else teach and thinking I agree or disagree with each point. At the end of their lesson, all I had was a list of where I agreed and disagreed, and I had learned nothing. It was as if I remembered something, but I didn’t know from where “provision is brought to the baby birds in the nest; all the rest must look for the provision.”

I had not spent that lesson looking for provision of knowledge from the Lord. I didn’t think I had been doing anything wrong, but it wasn’t working. I wasn’t judging the teacher; I was trying to “rightly divide the word” and judge just the content of his message. I thought this was what I was supposed to do. I tried to do both at the next meeting, but it didn’t work.

After that, I brought pen and paper to any meeting and prayed, “Lord, show me what you have for me in this meeting. Help me to see.” It was as if the Lord opened the floodgates. Things came quickly, and I was almost constantly making notes. It wasn’t always what the speaker said; sometimes, what the speaker said would trigger something in my mind on a different subject. When I got home, my work was cut out for me, and I searched the scripture to find out what was true. I was now judging myself and what I believed, not the message I had heard.

Searching and finding that provision of knowledge no longer has to be in church. It can be anywhere with anyone. The Lord is always with me, even if I have no sense of his presence. He always loves me and is ready to teach me, even though I often struggle to recognize him and his teachings.