I hate moving. The general upheaval of a change of address always stresses me out. Getting the boxes, the tape, permanent markers for labeling the boxes. Forgetting where you put the tape. Getting the permanent marker off the wall because the 3 year old got a hold of it while you were looking for the tape. Accidentally packing something you actually needed to keep out and having to find the box you put it in to retrieve it. Navigating your regular life that is still going on around the piles of packed boxes. Going to get more boxes because you ran out. The list goes on.
Because I dislike it so much, I have a tendency to be a last minute packer. Some boxes are well packed and labeled. Many are a haphazard mishmash of whatever small items happened to be closest to me and the box at the time of packing. It can make things difficult at the other end. The boxes that I was careful to pack and label are easily sorted and put into their new homes to once again resume the regular work. All these other items that I stuffed into boxes full of completely unrelated things take a lot longer to unpack. It leaves me sorting through tons of random bits and bobs to find the tool I need for the job. And I don't always find what I need, when I need it.
I have realized that this is often my approach to reading/studying Scripture. I hapazardly study a bit of this and a bit of that. I tend to bounce around the Bible, going wherever my mood of the moment or current circumstances dictate. Although that's not necessarily a bad thing on occasion, it does tend to leave me with dozens of poorly labeled Scriptural "boxes" that need to be sifted through to find the right information for the task or situation at hand. In contrast, when I include a plan of some kind in my regular reading and study times, I am more likely to make the connections between passages of Scripture which deepen my understanding of God's Word. When I take care to properly sort and label them, lo and behold! Things actually make sense and I can see what I need to see so much faster.
On the flip side, what if I never unpack the boxes at all? Well then, I cannot benefit from what was put in them. In Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Moses is relaying God's commandments to the Israelites and he exhorts them to teach them to their children, to speak of them together, to surround themselves with the reminders of Who they serve and how He wants them to live. Moses says to put them on the door posts of their homes and talk about them wherever they are. Not to just hear them once and leave them relegated to 10 Commandments carved in stone and placed in a box, but to write them on their hearts and live them daily.
If what I learn from time studying God's Word remains tucked away in the pages of some journal, and I never actually go back and unpack it, what good does it produce? None. So just as important as the initial packing of my soul with Truth and Grace, is the continual unpacking and revisiting of these passages for application and deeper understanding. Digging in deeper to the cultural context, learning the nuance of the original Hebrew and Greek, making the connections between Old and New Testaments, or re-reading a book in light of the literary style that was used to write it. All of these are essential tools for grasping the thread of the bigger story that God is writing in my life and the lives of those around me.
Right now there are still piles of boxes all over the house. It will take time for us to fully unpack our belongings in this new place. But as I do so, I hope to find God is unpacking His Truth in my heart.
One box at a time.
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