Am I Learning Impaired?

Sometimes I think I must have a spiritual learning disability—that I am unable to receive, process, and store truth. This happens more often than I’d like to admit. This last February, when I first spoke of my cancer, I confessed my greatest fear was not learning all that God wanted to teach me through this trial: a great loss if divine discipline did not result in righteous revelation. 

My inability to remember and respond has been evidenced through my impatience and petulance instead of faith and firmness.  I asked myself, “Am I learning impaired”?  Well, after a little biblical study, I’ve concluded that spiritual learning disabilities are universal. God continually told the Hebrews not to forget what they had learned (Deut. 4:9, 23; 6:12; 8:11). Solomon wrote, “My son, do not forget my teaching” (Prov. 3:2). Paul told Timothy to remind the believers of the things they had learned (2 Tim 2:14). Peter told his readers he would always be ready to remind them of the things they had learned (1 Pet 1:12).

Did they all have learning disabilities? No, they were just people just like us whose capacity for forgetting was greater than for remembering. No wonder Paul tells Timothy, “continue in the things you have learned” (2 Tim. 3:14).  Let us pray for each other that we won't forget to remember what we've learned.