feeling dumb when you read the Bible

Reading the Bible is important for every Christian.  We're told to read, study, and meditate on it.  And as a pastor, I think it's my job to not just read it and know it, but it's also my job to to encourage and enable you to do it.  So this year in youth group, I'm going out of my way to make sure people are reading the Bible.  The leaders are all set up with their DeliberatePeople journals.  They explained it to the students and handed them out to them, as well.  A lot of parents came Sunday night and received one.  We're all going to be reading the same part of the Bible all year, and I think that's great.

But there's a catch.  If you haven't read the Bible much before, you probably aren't familiar with a common occurrence: feeling dumb when you read it.  Sometimes you read something in the Bible, and you're left wondering what it was talking about.  And then you wonder if everyone else gets it, and you're the only one that has trouble.  That's going to happen to a lot of people in and around our youth group this year, maybe for the first time.  Maybe it happened yesterday for the first time.  Here's what we read from Proverbs:



 

Say what?  I think it means that you should be careful to not fall for someone buttering you up and then taking advantage of you, but I'm not sure.  Maybe you read it and weren't sure, either.  It's okay.  You're not as stupid as you thought. Sometimes it's just confusing, but don't let that stop you from reading.