Learning

Sometimes in university I'm in a class and I already know what the prof is talking about. I think to myself "how lame is this that I have to sit through another lecture on something I learned last year". I get distracted counting ceiling tiles or something like that and I barely hear the prof say something that I'm totally unprepared for and I suddenly realize there is a whole lot more to the topic then what I had previously learned. Now instead of being completely on top of the subject, I need to spend extra time understanding how all the new concepts fit in. If I had of just paid attention from the start everything would have made sense and I could move onto to writing this blog earlier.
This aspect of thinking I know something can often carry into my life with God and reading His word. I find myself reading a passage of scripture that I memorized in 5th grade and it having no impact on me as my mind is somewhere else. My approach to scripture becomes similar to that of my biochemistry class: I know the basics already so all the little details should just be easy to pick up along the way.
It doesn't take long however before I realize how completely lost I am in trying to understand what God is teaching me. Clearly if I think I have it all together and know everything there is to know, then I won't be putting a whole lot of effort into "going to class" to see what God has for me today. This leads to a putting aside of God's word for other things which have no benefit whatsoever. If I am going to be changed by the knowledge in God's word I need to be focused in my reading and realizing how very little I know of God
The solution for my classes is one of intentionality. I need to focus on what the prof is saying and make notes on the concepts he is teaching, even if I already know some of it. This way I won't miss any of the new ideas and I'll have complete notes to come back to.
With God's word it is the same. I need to intentionally read his word, study it, regardless of how I feel, in a structured way and not random bits here and there. At university my schedule of activities is based off of my schedule of my classes because I can't miss any of them. My schedule can not be determined from what I want to do or specific plans but it should be determined by the times I have set to read God's word.