On Tuesday morning, as I was driving, the same idea kept coming into my thoughts concerning the blog post I had written on the importance of reading Scripture in order to become “oaks of righteousness”. It was a nagging feeling that I had not really said all that needed to be said. I was reminded of the Scripture in James 2 that talks about telling a person who has no warm clothing and no food to eat, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled.” Without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
For someone who is possibly overwhelmed and intimidated by the Bible, being told to read Scripture isn’t helpful at all. Kind of like expecting your 0-month old to just get up and walk without taking the time to teach her how. Developing the spiritual discipline of reading and studying the Word of God takes time, patience, instruction and repetition.
So this is a continuance of last week’s post. In part one we looked at the purpose of reading Scripture, how God, through the Holy Spirit, uses the passages we read in the Bible to draw us into a deeper faith in Him -transforming our hearts, souls and minds. This week I hope to provide more practical tools to help you begin to develop the habit of reading the Scriptures for yourself.
Sadly, many have been taught or lead to believe that they are not smart enough to understand the Bible on their own. But thankfully, the same God that created the world and knows the mind of every human being, also wrote the pages of Scripture. The Word of God is simple enough that a child can understand it while at the same time can be completely baffling to some of the most brilliant human minds.
God desires you to read His Word. Therefore, He will equip you to understand what He wants you to know. This psalm perfectly captures the beauty of God’s words.
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Psalm 19:7-11
Here are a few practical concepts that I have applied that have transformed my Bible reading. I really wished I had learned these ideas much earlier in my Christian walk but better late than never!
• The Bible is not about you, it isn’t! It is about God.
Back in my youth group days, I was taught the Bible is the instructional manual for life. While there is some truth to that statement, if taken literally, it can easily reduce the Bible to merely a book of rules and moral guidelines. But the Bible is so much more than that! From cover to cover, the Bible tells us about God. We learn the attributes of His Character. We can learn what pleases Him or displeases Him and we can see how He loves us so much through His unrelenting pursuit of our hearts. Because of the written Word of God, we can know the truth about who God really is, in His own Words! Therefore, we must learn to look for God in all the words and verses.
• The verse cannot mean to you what it did not mean to the original audience.
I learned this from Gordon Fee’s book, “How to Read the Bible for All it’s Worth”. Context is so very important to truly understanding Scripture. When we keep a passage of text within its original context, we keep the text grounded in God’s truth. However, when we pull a verse of promise out of context and try to apply it to our lives we can easily become disillusioned when the promise fails. As we begin to read the Word in this way, we stop asking “what does this passage mean to me?”, and instead ask “what does this passage mean?”
• All of the Bible fits into one grand storyline:
CREATION - FALL - REDEMPTION - RESTORATION.
A few years ago I took a seminary class that taught me this concept. I had never heard the Bible presented this way. It always reminds me of the story in Luke. After Jesus was resurrected he appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus and connected all the Scripture for them “and beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). Now as I read through various parts of the Bible, I derive great joy in seeing the connections. It is one amazing story and it all fits together so beautifully.
I wish I could now tell you in a few short sentences the magical key to studying and understanding Scripture for yourself, but unfortunately there is no such thing. We are all very different people, carrying very different baggage and have very different demands and time schedules. This is where prayer and patience are needed. First, before we begin reading our Bibles, we should pray. As I mentioned earlier, God gave you His Word so that you would read it and He will therefore equip you. We need to ask Him for the desire to read and the ability to understand. But we also need to have patience. Some of the passages are hard to understand and hard to digest. Jen Wilkin, in "Women of the Word", teaches a concept of “sitting in the unknown”. It is allowing ourselves to not immediately have an answer. Sometimes we just need to mull over and over a text before God brings clarity. It is in this time of examination that we need patience with ourselves and with God. With the internet, there are many ways we can easily acquire the explanation of the text. But that is someone else’s interpretation. The Word of God is inspired but commentaries do not carry the same inspiration. Sometimes God wants us to fight through a verse on our own, through prayer and deeper examination, so that we learn what He is wanting to teach us.
It is very hard for me to read my Bible on days when I am in-between studies or reading plans. If there is no “required” reading for the day, I am more likely to skip that day's reading time. Having a specified plan or study keeps me on task and gives my quiet time purpose and structure. But there again, we are all wired differently. For some, a strict planned structured Bible study is suffocating and would hinder their quiet time. Our quiet time spent with God in reading His Word and praying with Him, is just that, it is ours. Take the time to understand your own time constraints and preferred study methods. Finding a method or a plan that works for you takes time and persistence. Remember not to place too much emphasis on the methods used or the time spent. Rather focus on growing a deeper and more intimate relationship with God. Give yourself grace to miss days and to experiment with various methods until you find one that works for your current season of life.
In Exodus 34, Moses’ face was literally radiant after spending time with God on the mountain. In a way, that is what time spent with God should do for us. We are called to be the light of the world. We become that light by spending time with God. In reading His Word and in prayer. This is how we communicate with God and how He communicates with us. Each day we set aside time to make meeting with God a priority, we acknowledge our obedience and our willingness to follow His ways. Being able to hold a Bible in our hands, in print or digital, is a privilege of the time we live it. Reading His Word is a gift that we have graciously been given. Through time spent in the Word, you will grow your faith, deepen your joy and strengthen your foundation. As Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
Below are a few resources that may be helpful. This is by no means an exhaustive or comprehensive list of resources but it is my hope that these will be a good starting point for some or a great refresher for others. Feel free to add a comment if you have other trusted resources or tips to pass along that may help inspire someone to open their Bible and read.
Books:
Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin. She has also started a new podcast by the same name and you can find that here: (https://www.crossway.org/articles/introducing-the-women-of-the-word-podcast-with-jen-wilkin/)
How to Read the Bible for All it is Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart
Searching the Scriptures: Find the Nourishment Your Soul Needs by Charles Swindoll
A Visual Theology Guide to the Bible by Tim Challies
Websites/Apps/Podcasts:
https://kellyneedham.com/posts/2014/07/23/word-pictures (I discovered this blog while researching for this post. This page is a great way to visualize your time in the Word. There seems to be a lot of good content.)