You know, I read this passage a little after 4:00, at a time when I didn't have the internet. It was really clicking for me, great thoughts were flowing, and I had a few "Oh!" moments where something I'd never realized or learned before came. The sad thing was, I didn't have a pen or useable piece of paper (like no bills, other people's notes, empty) near-by, so I just stared really hard at the passage on my computer screen and said to myself, "I'll write about that." By the time I had the opportunity to sit down to write about it, time had morphed to 11:00 at night, a little past, actually, seven hours later, and whatever it was... is gone. How pathetic is that? I've read and reread the passage, and there's still some great stuff in there, but I can't remember what I was so excited about. And I really was excited about it! How can you forget that kind of thing as you go on to do chores, take care of your baby, start packing for a week away... How can you?
This is exactly why I always try to impress on my small group girls, and anyone that I have the opportunity to speak to about Bible study, that you must have a pen and pencil. Or a word processing program of some kind (that's what I should have used! At least for notes, since Word won't copy/paste into Blogger for some reason). Something to get the thoughts down, because it is almost guaranteed that you will lose them. No matter how good they are, no matter how "brilliant", you'll forget.
There's some kind of outrageous statistics out there on this type of thing. According to my college Bible Foundations notes, you'll remember only 5% of what you hear, which means you'll lose 95%. You'll remember only 10% of what you read, which means you'll lose...? That's right: 90%. Even if you're reading the Word every day, if you are not getting something down on paper, not writing about, not doing something with it, you're going to lose it! Studying, honestly, isn't much better. After a week, you'll remember only 15%-20%, but that is better than losing 90% (or more!) of what you are trying to learn from the word of God. The best retention levels? Memorization and meditation. If you memorize a verse, you'll have it down; after all, the process of memorization includes constant review. Meditation is not the eastern form of meditation where you sit in a certain position and work to empty your mind. Rather, it is concentrated, focused thought over a period of time, even if it's only five minutes or ten minutes. Quiet, focused concentration. You'll remember far more than you think.
Did I ever get back to this passage and have another good study? Yes. I've learned from it. I admire Moses relationship with the Lord, because here it is after a disaster among the Israelites in their relationship with the Lord, and yet the Lord grants Moses an opportunity to spend time with him "face to face". He causes His glory to go past Moses and meets with Him in the Tent of Meeting (which by the way is so cool). Did Moses worship the Golden Calf? No. Did he have anything to do with its creation? No. But Moses did know it was a sin of the people, that as a people as a whole they had to carry the shame of those actions, and he is part of the people. More than that, he is their leader. He felt some of the responsibility of that on him. Yet the Lord shows favor to Moses. What a picture of grace! Even here in the Old Testament where we who live based off the New Testament think there's very little.
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