Someone will probably say, “This is all good, but it is just not me. I’m a prayer, not a studier.”
Okay, let’s look at that.
I’ve yet to meet a healthy person who says, “I’m just not into eating. I really like breathing, but eating is just not my thing.” I know that some people are not driven by their stomachs as much as others, but every healthy persons knows that they need to eat, and eat liberally of healthy things.
So what does this have to do with eggplant? Well, a very dear friend of mine professed most of his adult life that he did not like eggplant. This became a challenge to his wife, who is a very good cook. She put eggplant in all sorts of things. And he enjoyed everyone of her creations. During his second or third helping, he would often ask, “So what’s in this anyway?” She would smile and begin to list the ingredients. Then she would pause and smile agian. He, often mid-chew, would stop and look at her. He would swallow and look accusingly at her, “Did you put eggplant in this?” And she would just ask, “Don’t you like it?”
Eventually, she was able to convince his that he did like eggplant; he just did not like it the way his mother had prepared it. Do you see my illustration? Are you sure you don’t like studying or is it possible that you just don’t like the way someone showed you to study the Bible?
I really do resonate with the first statement though. I don’t think of myself as a “prayer”. I do pray, but it is hard for me to spend long periods of time in prayer. I always feel like I should be “doing” something. I didn’t grow up in a home where we talked together a lot — maybe that is why. So I pray before I study: “Lord help me see You and Your love more clearly through these verses.” And I pray while I study: “Lord, I don’t understand why Paul used that word.” And the like.
We are very much individuals. Your Bible study will reflect that. Our personalities will influence they type of study we gravitate toward. But I warn you about the bath-tub-water-trap of Bible study — “This is so comfortable, anything else would be uncomfortable, so I’ll just stay where I am.”
Try different methods.
Because I like what I call “whole passage study”, I have developed a certain method. But there are time when I want to do a topical study or a word study. Well, I have to use different techniques for those types of study. Just like I don’t use a shovel when what I need is a rake.
The point is to get deeper and deeper into God’s Word. Saying that you can’t study is a bit like saying you can’t dig a hole. It may take you longer than another person, but that may be because you’ve got the wrong tool (Have you ever tied digging a hole with a hammer?) or because you’ve not developed those muscles yet. For the first, change your tool/method. For the second, give yourself time to develop the muscles.