We read the bible differently than we read any other book. One reason is because of it’s sheer size. We can’t read the bible in one sitting. It’s too much to take in. Sometimes an entire chapter or even a short verse can be too much to take in during one sitting. We have to extend our reading over a period of hours and days as we wrestle with understanding and meditate on their meaning, their various implications and applications.
Consider all the commentaries that have been written about a single book of the bible, about single verses that have inspired so many men to write pages after page of commentaries, sermons, books, letters, devotionals, dissertations, psalms and hymns over the years. It is as John said at the end of his gospel, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:21) It is the same with seeing the truths and works of God and Jesus in the bible. When you are reading the bible there is always so much more to see then what you are currently seeing no matter how well you are able to see or how long you look. That’s one of the great wonders of the bible, it’s simplicity and it’s depths. John Owens once so aptly said:
In those very fords and appearing shallows of this river of God where the lamb may wade, the elephant may swim. Everything in the Scripture is so plain as that the meanest believer may understand all that belongs unto his duty or is necessary unto his happiness; yet is nothing so plain but that the wisest of them all have reason to adore the depths and stores of divine wisdom in it. – John Owen, Pneumatologia
To me, reading the bible is very much like visiting a very, very, very large city that you can never take it all in even if you do dwell in it. There is always so much more to see. Most of the time when we read a book of the bible, it is like driving through a city without stopping. You see many of the prominent sites and features of a city, the sidewalks, the side streets, the buildings, but you don’t have the time or the opportunity to take any of the side streets and see where they lead or go inside any of the historical buildings and see the stories they have to tell you. You don’t have time to stop and examine slowly and meditatively, to meet the characters and the people of the town and get to know them like old familiar friends. Instead, we just watch them as they walk up and down the pages of our bibles like walking up and down the sidewalks of a city as we see them enter and exit the stories like streets. We can only gleam information about them, instead of stopping to ask these characters questions like where they came from and get to know them, their strengths, their weaknesses, their struggles and so on.
When we do a bible study, it gives us time to actually visit and camp out in a book instead of just drive through it in a passing manner. We pick a small spot to enjoy and to camp out in. Entering into a bible study or even reading a book is very much like planning a trip to a foreign land. These trips are often very costly, once in a life time events simply because of the investment of time and energy they take. We can’t afford to go back whenever we like.
So when I am doing a bible study or reading a book I like to take in as much as I can because I know I may not ever have an opportunity to return to this place and spend this much time there again anytime in the near future. I like to take lots of notes as if I were taking pictures so that I can easily remember my favorite quotes and insights and enjoy them all over again in the future.
Most books we read we don’t read again. It’s not because we don’t want to; we just don’t have the time or we never get around to it or we just didn’t enjoy it all that much. There are books that have a deep impact on us, books we make it a point to return to again on a regular scheduled basis. Our favorite vacation spots.
I have a few favorite books like these, books I make it a point go back to again and again and again and soak in their light as I would soak in the sun in the Caribbean Islands if I had the opportunity to go. A few favorite books of mine that I read in this manner are, Andrew Murray’s, “Waiting on God” and “Humility”. William Law’s “A Serious Call to the Devout and Holy Life,” John Flavel’s “Keeping the Heart”. I keep them nearby and try to spend as much time in their pages as possible whenever I can getaway so that their message might have every opportunity to soak into me.
Books and coffee are my weakness. Books give me the opportunity to live a thousand lives in one life; to visit a thousand places from one place. Books are transporters that allow me to time travel and to travel great distances all over the world and universe. Their words carry me away on their wings to places I could never have imagined existed or ever had hope to travel to on my limited income.
Books introduce me to people who I have never been given opportunity to meet and give me time to spend hours hearing their thoughts and opinions uninterrupted as if they and I we were in a room alone together sharing a cup of coffee and private conversation. Through books I have had an opportunity to sit down with some great men such as Jonathan Edwards, Arthur Pink, Andrew Murray, George MacDonald, John Bunyan, Watchman Nee, John Piper, William Law, Charles Spurgeon and spend hours and hours listening to these great men as they talk non stop.
When I am reading a great book, by a great author, I often look to see how many pages I have left as if I am looking to see how much time I have left for this conversation. Not because I am in a hurry but because I am enjoying the privilege and conversation so much. I get really excited when a good book is thick. The longer the better. I get this much more time with this person to hear them converse on this subject of personal interest to me. I feel like I won a backstage pass when I have my hands on a good book. I am sad when the book is too short wishing there was more, wishing they could have stayed longer and shared more.
Through the pages of a book, a person’s message can travel great distances, and to distant times, extending their circle of influence during life and even after their death. They allow us to continue to speak from the grave and allow others to speak to us. Their words are very powerful influences that can shape us and enter into us. Through books, men and women who have passed away or who live at great distances can actually counsel us one-on-one and tell us what they would have told us if they themselves would have been given opportunity to meet us and sit down with us to encourage us.
My greatest mentors in life have been men I have never met, whose writings and journals have encouraged me how to live for Christ and to know God, as they themselves lived for Christ and knew God. In their books they pour out a lifetime of knowledge gained, of personal struggles, questions and victories. They summarize truths learned from hours of prayer, studying and a lifetime of experiences, so that I might enjoy them too and share fellowship with them and the Father and the Son as they have enjoyed their fellowship. They write for my joy. They write for their joy because joy is simply not made complete unless it is shared. Unless others see it too. One day, I do look forward to meeting these men whom God has used to influence my life so greatly and I will thank them for the books they left behind for me. I will thank them for the time and the sacrifice they took to write their words down so they could reach me one day. Their sacrifice brought me and countless others so much increased life and joy.
It may seem like I have gotten off topic talking about my love for books when I was talking about how to study a book in the bible for all it’s worth. But I do have a point to show you. I want you to understand what a privilege it is for us to be able to sit down with these writers of the Old Testament, the Psalms, the Proverbs, the Prophets, the Gospels, the Letters and the Apocalyptic Literature and to hear their testimony and counsel to us personally. For the bible is very personal, much more personally directed to you than any other book you will ever read. It was written for you specifically so that you might know God and hear him one-on-one.
I want you to appreciate the great distance the bible, the very word of God, has traveled through time, through distant lands, through various people, through much tribulation of the church and those martyrs who gave their lives to preserve it in order to carry and pass on it’s precious message of hope and salvation in its original condition, so that these words of God would one day reach your hands, our hands, and have the opportunity to spend time alone with you, one-on-one and to reach your heart. It truly is amazing when you think about it.
I do not want you to be intimidated by the size of the bible or by an individual book or letter in the bible that you are getting ready to read. I want to encourage you to appreciate the fact that you have that much more time to spend and to hear this particular person speak. I want you to experience sorrow when you reach the end of a book as you would experience sorrow in leaving a friend you know you will not be able to hear from again for a very long time, or leaving your favorite vacation spot not knowing when you will be able to return again.
I want to encourage you to take lots of pictures. Write lots of things down so that you can remember them in the future and share them with others and to entice them to go and spend time in that particular place in the word of God with you or by themselves or with a bible study group.
I want you to take your time. Don’t rush through your reading. Vacations are not supposed to have any schedules. Give your full attention to what you are reading. Soak in the sun. Study every nook and cranny. Visit all the must see and must read spots and really study them. But don’t be afraid to chase a rabbit trail every once in awhile and get off the beaten path to travel to the less known spots and verses that are not as frequented.
Take a good guide, a good commentary, with you so you don’t get lost or misled or kidnapped by false ideas and teachers. There are always dangers in foreign places. Be sure to recognize those dangers, take every precaution against them so you are not taken in by them and can easily recognize them and defend yourself against bad theology that would lead you away from the truth instead of closer to it.
Pray. Pray to God for understanding, for revelation, for lots of light and guidance by His Holy Spirit. Apart from God opening our eyes to understand the scriptures we will never be able to see beyond ourselves. What we do see or think we see, will be blurred and warped by our own reasoning. We will see things that are not really there. It’s like going out only at night in a foreign land with very limited light and stumbling over everything. It is often at night, that danger lurks around us most because our vision is limited. We are easily lost, misled and often stumble over the unfamiliar. So it is when our understanding is darkened. Be sure to pray and walk in God’s light when you are studying.
Finally, enjoy the study. Sometimes vacations are a lot of work, a lot of planning, but they are intended for our rest and for our enjoyment. The word of God came so that we might have life and joy to the fullest. What truths, what peace is God calling you to enjoy and to see in this particular book? How can you find rest in it? How can you frame it and place it in your heart’s mind so you can remember and refer to it often in the future?
Take souvenirs home with you so you can remember where you have been. Frame a verse, make a keychain, a magnet, a picture, a journal entry, so you can remember and take these truths home with you and enjoy them later.
At the end, share what you have learned. Sharing is a way to preserve it. Everyone loves to share vacation pictures and to share their favorite parts of their journey while it is fresh in their minds. Share with your family and friends where the Lord has taken you; what you have seen; what you have taken back home with you to keep and hold on to. Talk about it over coffee or at lunch. Blog about it. Facebook it. Write me. Send me a postcard by writing a comment or sharing a link on where you have been, what you have found. I love to see other’s pictures and hear their stories of where the Lord has taken them and share their joy. That is why I love books and blogs. We may not have the opportunity to visit every place or meet every person but books and blogs shorten the distance and make it fun to give it a try anyway and get the most out of our limited time.
