My wife’s pain level, which had been high for weeks, reached unbearable, so I took her to the ER. The ER Doc did an ultrasound, saw nothing concerning, and prescribed Percocet. When we told her we would prefer to discover the source of the pain, we could tell she just wanted us to go away. She had done an ultrasound and found nothing wrong. “Go home,” she said, “Take these pills and the pain will go away.” After ten hours, we left, but the pain got worse, not better.
The next morning, my wife was unable to walk at all, so we tried a different ER and got a different result. This time, the doctor decided to look more deeply and admitted her to the hospital for testing. This time, it was discovered that her gall bladder was not working and needed to be removed.
This experience has reminded me of the need to look deeper. In our fast-paced world, there is a tendency to find the quickest and easiest answer, and when we find it, we stop looking. This is true, not just of medical issues, but also of spiritual issues. I see it often happens in Bible study.
“What does this passage mean?”
“It means we should read our Bible and pray,” or “It means Jesus is the answer.” And we move on to the next question.
What might you find if you were to dig deeper, as the Bereans did? After the folks in Thessalonica quickly labeled Paul a troublemaker, he was forced to flee. He went to Berea, and we are told, “They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)
Digging into the Word, like digging into a medical problem, takes more than an ultrasound view.