NOVEMBER 30, Proverbs 30:5

Rick was frustrated. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get his math problem worked out. He slammed his book shut with a bang. Dad looked up from the newspaper. “What’s the problem, Rick?” he asked. “This stupid math book is the problem,” fumed Rick. “It has to be wrong! I don’t care what the book says, the figures don’t add up like they’re supposed to. This thing won’t come out right no matter what I do!”

Dad put aside the paper. “Let me take a look at it,” he said. “Maybe we can solve the problem together.” Taking Rick’s book and paper, Dad compared Rick’s work with the book’s instructions and the examples in the text. “I see what happened,” he said, pointing to the place where Rick had made a mistake. “What are you supposed to do here?”

Rick looked at the page. “Oh! Add!” he exclaimed. “But I subtracted.” Rick re-worked the problem. “How come I didn’t notice that?” “Maybe you didn’t study your figures carefully because you were so sure the book was wrong,” Dad replied. “The problem wasn’t the book, it was you.”

“I heard that,” said Mom, coming into the room. “Mrs. Lee had that problem too. I was talking with her today, and she wasn’t sure she could believe the Bible because in one place it says Jesus fed 5,000 people and in another place it says 4,000. She was sure the Bible was in error until I showed her that those were two separate events.”

“There you have it, Rick,” said Dad. “Someone else assumed the Book was wrong because she hadn’t studied it carefully.”

“Well, I may not know or understand all of the Bible, but I know it’s never wrong,” said Rick.

“Good,” said Dad. “That’s even more important than knowing that your math book is right. Now, how about studying both of those books a little more carefully?”

You do not need to understand everything to believe it is all true. Ask God to give you wisdom as you read it. Look up unfamiliar words in a dictionary. The more you read God’s Word, trusting Him to teach you, the more you will understand it.

Thought: Do you treasure God’s Word?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, teach me never to make excuses for not reading Your Word or to tell myself I might as well skip it because I do not understand all of it. Instead, help me to treasure it. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.