Knowledge...or lack thereof

A few weeks ago, I took the Bible Knowledge Assessment for Wycliffe Bible Translators. I'm in the application process to join the organization, and the BKA is a part of the large amount of information that they glean from prospective members. I can't talk about the specifics of the test (for legal reasons), but I learned something from it that I wanted to write about.

The test was difficult. In all honesty, I'm not sure if I've ever taken a test where I felt as though I knew so little of the material. I've been a Christian and going to church all my life, but this test really made clear to me that my study (including memorization) of the Bible has sorely been lacking for most of my life. All those Bible stories and whatnot from Sunday school and youth group were important, but in my mind, it wasn't deep enough to understand all that I could about Christ and life with Him.

My personal devotions have never amounted to much, at least in terms of the Bible. My personal prayer life has really been strengthened in recent years (largely due to my lonliness), but scripture has usually been limited to reading a few verses in Our Daily Bread, and that never goes deep enough for me to learn--ODB is more about being inspired.

When have I gone the deepest in my study of Scripture? Ironically, when I'm preparing to teach from the Bible. For a few months last year--and February of this year--I taught Sunday school at Promised Land Fellowship. It was in preparation for those lessons that I had multiple Bibles, a concordance, and a Bible dictionary spread out on my bed and I was really digging in, praying for divine guidance and enjoying it! Interestingly enough, there were questions that I answered correctly on the BKA that I know came as a result of those times of teaching.

I just found out that the results of my BKA are in and I will not need to pursue further Bible study in order to join Wycliffe. This is a good thing (I'm still planning on joining WBT full-time in January). The better thing is that it has brought to the forefront of my mind that I need to be studying the Bible. If for no other reason, my stress over the BKA was good for that!