The Bible is not like any other book. It’s words are confrontational and transformative-it’s words are Spirit and Life. The Word of God is meant to get on the inside of us and deal with our souls and form our lives to be congruent with the world that God created, the salvation he enacted and the community of believers he gathered. It’s called the Holy Bible because the words are different from any other words found in literature and other books. They’re HOLY words. Not to be compared with other writings.
This requires a different approach to reading the Scriptures. We must view it as all inspiring, and read it reverentially with the understanding that God is speaking. Even when we don’t understand it all, God is still speaking-so we must learn to live with him in the question. It requires that we honor the words as holy and even position ourselves to allow them to penetrate our hearts to the deepest places that need transformation.
We don’t have to understand it all, but we must still allow its entrance. It’ll do the work.
“Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 NRSV
There is mystery in it’s pages, so you won’t figure it all out. It’s not to be figured out-but wrestled with.
The Bible is the revelation of God The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit and his creation.
WHAT NEEDS CHANGING?
We must learn to read scriptures as riddles, proverbs, parables and dark sayings that need wrestling with. We must get back to allowing the Bible to read us, confront us, teach us, and reveal Jesus to us. We must no longer go to the Bible and read it for our own use, or when it suits us…that’s the wrong way to read the Bible. The Bible is not another resource on your bookshelf-it’s the living and inspired Words of God-breathed out of the mouth of those He chose and given to those he makes covenant with.
THE AUTHOR
God is not just another author-He’s THE author of all things. The Bible is meant to be revelatory and intimate. It’s neither informational nor impersonal-it’s transformational, relational and extremely personal.
We shouldn’t read it from a distance but closely and receptively as it’s meant to enter every fiber and soul of our beings, transforming us from the inside out. Some have even said that we do not read this book and the subsequent writings that are shaped by it in order to find out how to get God into our lives, or to get him to participate in our lives. No. We open this book and find that page after page it takes us off guard, surprises us and draws us into its reality, pulls us into participation with God on his terms. Not our terms.
If you’re reading the book and struggling to understand it, stop and ask God to help you by his Spirit. Be with him as you read. Ask him questions while you read. You may or may not get the answers but you must remember that you’re not meant to read it alone. It’s meant to be read with the Holy Spirit.
IT SHOULD AWAKEN US
All good books should awaken us to something. But the Holy Bible should awaken us in a way that no other book does. If you’re reading it and it does not awaken something on the inside of you-you need to stop and ask why.
Lastly we must remember that the book is not to be read as prose. It’s metaphoric. It’s poetic, it is full of hyperboles and analogies that require a greater searching out and wrestling with.
The Bible was written for all ages, so stop trying to apply it just for now. Look back with God through the ages for the wisdom and understanding you may need.
We must also remember that it has historical context and patriarchal views that requires a deeper look. Most of all it’s meant for us to know God and his ways. It’s meant to illuminate not only our hearts but our paths.
We were commanded to pick up our cross and follow him. NEW AGE
We are in a brand new age my friends and it’s going to require us to eat this book like never before.
“So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, “Take it, and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.” So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.” Revelation 10:9-10 NRSV
St. John didn’t just read the scroll-he ate it.
If we care about reading God’s Word rightly, then we too-must eat the book.
LOVE AND PEACE,
DANA