"I will give you a wise and discerning heart."

Lately I've been thinking a lot about bible studies.  This might not be popular, but here it goes...  I think the  American Church relies too much on bible studies.  What brought this into my thinking was my own ability (or lack thereof), to read the bible on my own with a purpose and glean wisdom from it.  Hebrews 5: 12 says, "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again.  You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."  Sure, bible studies have their place.  I was immensely helped by a Beth Moore study years ago in my early years of being a Christian.  But I was a new Christian, and that study was for a very specific issue.  Bible studies seem like "teacher's editions" where the work has already been done, the answers are there for you, we don't have to do any work on our own.  I could be wrong, but when I think of people like Billy Graham, Del Tackett, or Francis Chan, I don't picture them doing bible studies.  They're the ones writing the studies for the immature Christians who can't study the bible on their own.  I want to go deeper in my relationship with the Lord, and I think to do so I need to stop relying on the wisdom/work of others and start relying/praying for knowledge from the Holy Spirit.  "For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding."  Proverbs 2: 6. Instead of jumping on the latest, greatest bible study band-wagon, I wish the church would encourage and train members to ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom and discernment for themselves--to want "solid food."  The Lord will/wants to give it to us!   I would love to know others opinions on this if you want to leave a comment!