Hunger for the Word

I was just sitting here thinking about the greatest Bible study I was ever a part of. It was in the USA but with a Laotian community of believers. I was at a friend’s house for a Laotian birthday party. Suddenly right in the middle of it all, it seemed to come abruptly to an end because a majority of the people wanted to go and separate themselves to study the Bible. This majority was the Laotians. It would have never crossed my mind to study the Word at a party, I am sad to admit. I was invited by my friend to join them and very gladly accepted. We sat around a circle on the hard floor of an empty house that was being built next door. The Laotian minister gave each person a verse in a scripture passage that he had planned for their study that night. They came prepared to study the Word. They all had their Bibles. We prayed and then we went around the circle taking turns reading the scripture and then sharing what it meant to us. One interpreted so we could all understand. I believe we studied Ephesians. I don’t remember a lot about what was said that day but I remember the beauty in the hunger in these people and in their posture and reverence toward the Word of God. They didn’t take the freedom to study for granted. There was no hurrying. We sat there and studied for quite a while. I wonder that I have never seen that kind of hunger in any group of English speaking Christians that I have met. I have seen it in one or two people but never in such a large group. Surely it exists…I pray for that degree of hunger and that posture.