I know there are some of you out there who are in the same boat. On occasion, I am reading a scripture and think to myself “wow, I have never seen this scripture before”.
Wait a minute! I have read through the Bible at least 5-6 times following a plan my pastor recommended (daily – a section from Old Testament, section from New Testament, section from Psalms, then section from Proverbs). I was amazed at how often the OT section paired up subject-wise with the NT section. Or a Psalm or Proverb.
Okay, Okay – I admit it! I skimmed through the genealogies, some of the detailed description of the building of the temple and considered skimming in the sections describing each of the kings saying “he did evil in the eyes of the Lord” — so repetitive and sad were those descriptions of the kings.
But seriously, I did faithfully go through those sections. Eventually, after doing that reading system a few times, I found myself rushing through the reading so I could check it off – not really soaking or going deeper in thought about it. Eventually, I decided that was not the method I wanted to keep following.
What happened next? Yep, I’ll bet you have been there, too. ‘Fess up! I fell off the daily reading wagon.
So then I grabbed a devotional or other “daily” prompt that would at least give me a dip into scripture. Since researching my great-great grandfather who, with 3 of his friends in 1875, eleven years after the Civil War and his walking out of the Union prison where he had been held captive the last year of the war, met at the school beginning a Sunday prayer meeting group. They faithfully met for 7 years before they were able to establish a church.
The historical account I found said, “They had very few Bibles, so they used Websters’ spelling book for literature. They also had a Bible questionnaire.” I have now acquired a reprint of that Websters’ spelling book and it has tons of biblical principles discussions, stories and readings.
Ever since learning that piece of my ancestral history, I thank the Lord for the multiple Bibles I have, the resources galore available to help me to interpret and understand them. How rich I am. And how have I responded to that fact? Ugh. I don’t want to answer that. Just not as faithfully responding as I would like.
Meanwhile, I was convicted recently to memorize Psalm 1:1 and this is at a time in my later years when it is much harder to memorize! But it has truly blessed me. Here it is (and yes, I modified it to “she” instead of “he” so I could truly personalize it):
Blessed is the woman
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But her delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law she meditates day and night.
She is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever she does prospers.
Did you catch that? “…she meditates day and night” on the law of the Lord. Law of the Lord? Translate that to “scripture”.
And here is a great reminder from Henry Blackaby in his devotional Experiencing God Day by Day – “All scripture is profitable! Knowing this, we cheat ourselves when we do not access every book, every truth, every verse, and every page of our Bibles for the promises and commands God has for us. Because every verse of Scripture is inspired by God and gainful to us, we should not pick and choose which verses we will read and study….we must allow every Scripture to speak to us and teach us what God desires us to learn.”
OK, I agree with him. When I did the “devotional dipping” period of my daily bible work, I spent far less time and got much shallower in my searching for and listening to the Lord.
So, a recent discovery I had is what I suggest to you. In the past few years, I have found myself enjoying audio books (as I drive, as I go on a walk, or as I am trying to fall asleep at night). And I found an audiobook NIV Daily Scripture: Journey Through the Whole Bible in a Year that absolutely “filled the bill” for me.
Listening to “every single word” as read off by the speaker has been amazingly profitable to me. Yes, even the genealogies. I just whisper to the Lord at those times, “What the heck is important about those?” You might be amazed at his response. He pricked my conscience around my family history bootcamp work.
I can listen to the audio book for as long as I have available – and I always benefit from it. It is amazing! And when I am listening as I go to sleep, I set the timer on the book so I won’t miss much if I fall asleep early. It has been a rich experience and keeps me thinking off and on during the day about the stories and sections covered in the recent listening. And yes, God’s timing is amazing.
So Blackaby wraps it up perfectly: If you are not firmly grounded in God’s Word, you will be bombarded with an assortment of doctrines, lifestyles, and behaviors, and you will have no means to evaluate whether or not they are of God…..Scripture will equip you for any good work God calls you to do.
And our amazing God, I will swear on a stack of Bibles, actually places in that audio reading some exact scripture for a particular situation I am presently facing!!
Blackaby is so right about when scripture is before me, sinking in to me, being provocative to me! I leave you with his words of wisdom – “Allow the Word of God to permeate, guide and enrich your life.”
