The Spiritual Slow Learner Crisis is Real

Amos 4:6
“I gave you empty stomachs in every city
and lack of bread in every town,
YET YOU HAVE NOT RETURNED TO ME,”
declares the LORD.

Amos 4:7
“I also withheld rain from you
when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
but withheld it from another.
One field had rain;
another had none and dried up.
Amos 4:8
People staggered from town to town for water
but did not get enough to drink,
YET YOU HAVE NOT RETURNED TO ME,”
declares the LORD.

Amos 4:9
“Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
destroying them with blight and mildew.
Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees,
YET YOU HAVE NOT RETURNED TO ME,”
declares the LORD.

Amos 4:10
“I sent plagues among you
as I did to Egypt.
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps,
YET YOU HAVE NOT RETURNED TO ME,”
declares the LORD.

Amos 4:11
“I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
YET YOU HAVE NOT RETURNED TO ME,”
declares the LORD.

A slow learner is someone who is below the average speed of grasping knowledge. A slow learner takes longer to understand. A slow learner doesn’t get the obvious lesson. When the teacher believes that he/she has simplified a point and at this point, everyone should have understood, the slow learner hasn’t understood anything. A slow learner thinks at a slower rate than others.

A class may have one or two slow learners and that may be considered normal. If half the class are slow learners, we start questioning the competence of the teacher. The success or failure of a class cannot be separated fully from the competence of the teacher. Mass failure is a teacher failure ceteris paribus. Likewise, high levels of success are a teacher’s effort to some extent. Therefore, a few slow learners per class seems to be an unacceptable norm.

Think of a whole class of slow learners. Think of a whole community of slow learners. Yet The Teacher is the best and undoubtedly excellent. This is what Israel was in their relationship with God. The whole community of God’s people was painfully slow in getting the spiritual lessons God was teaching them. God can’t be blamed for sure, these are just difficult people. Spiritual slow learners!

The passage of consideration today tells us how God attempted to deliver various lessons but they kept missing the point. They didn’t get the lesson. They were spiritual slow learners. Now God wonders through the prophet Amos.

God says He caused them to be so hungry that they were only expected to return to God in order to solve their hunger problems, but the slow learners did everything else, except return to God. How slow can one be in learning a lesson?

God withheld rain and created a shortage of water. The people staggered from town to town. The people went from place to place. They were searching for water. The people went everywhere except to God who created water. Slow learners can be so frustrating, you think they will see the point but they won’t!

God allowed disaster that destroyed crops, their source of income, but they did not return to God. God allowed diseases and death to ravage the community and they did not even think to pray about it. God allowed people to seriously suffer, then He saved them from suffering like you snatch a stick from fire, and He thought perhaps they will attribute it to God, but slow learners will never see an obvious point.

They were slow learners and took too long to get spiritual lessons strewn across the landscape of their daily lives. Yet we also miss spiritual lessons strewn across our day-to-day activities of life. We do not notice that the challenges we have, require prayers. Instead of praying and working, we do a routine meaningless prayer, then break ourselves seeking a solution God would have given us. Aren’t we slow learners?

Slow learners miss the point. When we conclude the cause of that disease was this or that and we don’t see any spiritual lesson, we are slow learners. When we explain our social challenges without showing how God is leading us from a bad person to get a better person, we are thick slow learners. When we see problems as the work of our enemies but we miss the fact that God wants to gain a victory for Himself in this seeming duel, we are painfully slow at learning. That financial loss is a spiritual lesson, but you are busy whining and blaming, yet God wants you to turn to Him for a huge come back, how slow can you be?

This disaster you are facing, God was able to stop it from happening, yet He allowed it, are you still too slow to notice God is in this and therefore you are safe? Jesus was in the boat during that storm in the lake yet those slow learners went to Him desperately crying that they were perishing. How can the Master of Ocean, Sky, and wind perish in a storm? Are you that slow? Are you in a storm now, and you know you are with Jesus, yet you doubt His ability to save? Are you that slow?

Are you so slow that instead of trusting God’s guidance, you have resorted to your race, tribe, friends and relatives? Are you so slow that you don’t trust God can give you success and now you must cheat? Are you so slow that you engage in crime, corruption, and illegalities? Are you so slow that you lie about others so that you look better? Slow learners can miss very obvious points in their lives.

Dear God, clearly I am a slow learner. I am embarrassed at the many obvious lessons that I have missed. Save me from slow learning, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

1. Rei Kesis YouTube Channel (subscribe, click on the notification, and share) –http://youtube.com/reikesis
2. Rei Kesis books on Amazon (Amazon will sell and deliver anywhere in the world. For those in Kenya you can buy from any ABC close to you. ABC is Adventist Book Center) –https://www.amazon.com/s?k=rei+kesis&ref=nb_sb_noss
3. Rei Kesis daily blog –https://reikesis.com/