Do you know why it is so very important to learn to study God’s word for yourself? Because gleaning from others is a lazy way to learn.
For most of my adult life, my learning about God and His kingdom mostly consisted of gleaning from other teachers. There have been a handful of times when I have learned a truth about God that came directly from Him but all my foundation was built on what others told me. When I finally got desperate for truth, God chased me into the wilderness and He tore down my house that I had built on foundation stones of other people’s revelations and understanding. He dug up all those stones and slowly He and I have been replacing the foundation and begun rebuilding my house.
I got to thinking about the word “gleaning” and what it really means.
Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers’ fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. A practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legally enforced entitlement of the poor.
So, if my learning about God consists of gleaning from other people then I’m learning from their leftovers and that means I live in a state of poverty.
Studying for myself is hard work and like other areas in my life I automatically try to avoid the pain of working hard. But to be a productive member of the kingdom of God means I MUST WORK.
I want to encourage you to invest in your journey and learn for yourself the truth of the ways of God. Invest in the tools that will help. Don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions. I just bought the Mishnah…a copy of the oral Law. Why? Because the oral Law is woven throughout the written Word of God. By gaining an understanding of the oral Law the written Word comes into sharper focus.