It’s Temporary

Last week I found myself walking through an unfamiliar grocery store. While on vacation, we needed a few things and searched for a grocery store nearby. We found a really nice one but it was totally new to me. I knew where nothing was. Nothing at all.

Having a rather long list of miscellaneous items shelved “who knew where”, I found myself wandering the aisles in search of them. I found most everything because, like most stores, they had category signs in the aisles.

But as I came to my last two items, I simply could not find them. I hunted and hunted. Aaah, there was the one. One item left. Batteries. Where would this grocery store keep batteries??

Finally, I just asked. I was tired of wandering and not finding them. I had wasted enough vacation minutes in this store already and my husband and two of my grandsons were waiting in the truck in the parking lot.

I found a young girl working in an aisle and asked her where they were. She pulled out her phone to look it up and then told me aisle 13. I looked up at the sign for the number of the aisle we were in and, lo and behold, I was in aisle 13. I found it comical that she wasn’t even familiar enough with the store to tell me they were in the aisle we were standing in. Feeling a little stupid, I walked towards the front of the store. Yep…there they were. To my left was a small section of batteries. How did I miss them?

My search in the unfamiliar store would only be temporary should I move to that area of Massachusetts. If I would start shopping there regularly, I would soon become familiar with the aisles and the whereabouts of all the items.

How similar this is to our study of the Bible. When we are unfamiliar with the Bible, we come to it a bit uncomfortable and totally unable to find anything. Sometimes we need to ask someone who knows it better to help us find something. But as we grow more and more familiar with it, our study of it becomes so much easier and we begin to know where things are.

So, if you have wanted to study the Bible but feel overwhelmed, just know that it’s temporary. Before you know it, you, too, will be familiar with God’s precious book. It just takes some intention and time. We don’t want to give up simply because we are unfamiliar with its contents.

Just as I could have left that store in discouragement and without what I needed, so we are often tempted to leave our study of the Bible in discouragement and without what we need. But let’s not give in to that temptation but, rather, be diligent and persevering as we mine the invaluable treasures that are held within its pages.