I will praise and give thanks to You with uprightness of heart when I learn [by sanctified experiences] Your righteous judgments [Your decisions against and punishments for particular lines of thought and conduct]. – Psalm 119:7, Amplified Bible (AMP)

For thousands of years, young people all over the world have awakened one day to discover a startling fact: their parents weren’t as dumb as they thought they were. When young people come to this conclusion, they do so by virtue of one thing and one thing only: they’ve finally gained enough life experiences to realize that their parents said what they said and did what they did for good reasons. Although Christians never think of God as anything less that all-knowing, Christians can’t truly appreciate how much sense the Bible makes until they’ve gained enough life experiences to understand the practical nature of God’s Word.

I began reading the Bible when I was a teenager. I read the Bible annually until I left for college, but I’ve got to be honest; I didn’t understand a lot of it, and what I did understand took more of the form of head knowledge than heart knowledge.* Then, for several years I set the Bible, and my faith, aside, seeking my own way and my own goals. During that period I was miserable, and one day it became obvious that it was time to come back to God.

After returning to God from my wilderness wanderings, I didn’t immediately reinsert daily Bible reading into my life. Then, some years ago, I resumed the holy habit of my teenage youth, and I was immediately amazed at how much more sense the Bible made to me as an adult. I’ve continued to be amazed ever since, for with each gray hair comes new experiences that make the lessons of the Bible more rich. Successes and failures, obedient choices and disobedient ones, great circumstances and horrible times all make God’s rewards, punishments, promises, and warnings more real. When God’s Word becomes more real, God Himself becomes more real, meaning that through the experiences of life – coupled with the diligent study of God’s Word – we gain a deeper, richer relationship with our Savior.

No matter where you are in your Christian walk, know this: if you will be faithful to The Lord and to His Word, you will draw closer and closer to Him with each new experience (“good” or “bad”) that you have. Your fellowship will grow sweeter, your trust will become stronger, and heart peace will become yours, no matter what life throws your way. Just be patient during the growth process. It doesn’t happen quickly. But, it does happen, and before you know it, you’ll be looking back on a life filled with experiences that had one common purpose: to knit your heart with God’s.

* Here’s a great example of head knowledge versus heart knowledge. When a toddler hears his mother say, “Don’t put your hand on the stove. It’ll burn you,” he can understand in his mind that “hot stove equal burn.” However, he can’t understand the depths of pain a burn will cause unless he does indeed put his hand on the hot stove. Then, once he experiences the burn, he understands in his heart, as well as in his head, why it’s not a good idea to place one’s hand on a hot stove!