I’ll never forget as a teenager, my grandmother challenged me to be a Bible reader.  She encouraged me to read through the New Testament first, then the Psalms, and, of course, Proverbs, because it was a book of wisdom that would instruct me as a young person in the ways of life.  As I got older, I ventured more into the Old Testament, reading select books like Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, Nehemiah, and such.  But it wasn’t until my mid twenties, when I received a “One Year Bible” with the whole Bible divided into daily readings of Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs that I decided to take the challenge to read it from cover to cover.  And so, I began on the first day of the New Year to read through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  I found that it took discipline to read each day and to keep up with the rigorous schedule.  I also found my self falling behind on numerous occasions, but my German stubbornness was unwilling to give up, and so I would work twice as hard to catch up so I could finish on the last day of the year.

My first time through I found many things that did not make sense.  I didn’t pick up on the overall story that God wanted to reveal to me, but I had met the challenge, and was ready to do it again.  Up to then I had struggled with what to read, with little to no system.  I may have felt led, or inspired, to read a book here or there, but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the method–because there wasn’t one.  Little did I know that I was short changing myself and missing the “forest from the trees.”  But the more I read through the Bible from beginning to end, the more the pieces began to fit into place.  Patterns began to emerge, and events that previously seemed random soon took on a purpose and a reason, as God began to unfold the mysteries of His plan.

In essence, then, the Bible is God’s story, or “His story.”  It is the account of how He created the earth perfect and good, and everything in it, and how He made people in His image, and watched as they rebelled against him, bringing evil of all kinds into the world.  It tells how, out of love, God then began to put His plan into action that would restore people and His creation back to it’s perfect goodness.  How he chose one man to become a nation that He would reveal himself to, and which in turn would make Him known to the entire world.  How from that nation a Deliverer, sent by God, would come to rescue whosoever would want to be rescued, and to announce that a new Kingdom had arisen out of the darkness of the world, a Kingdom of light and goodness, that would grow to overtake and replace the darkness of evil with everlasting Light and Justice, with God and His people reconciled for all time and eternity, living together in peace and harmony, while the evil was permanently removed.  All of this happens over the millennia of time, with people who are as imperfect as you and I, amidst war, turmoil, murder, rape, and events that would rival the best of Hollywood’s action films.  But out of all the mess that we have made, God sees a gem, and whittles away the surrounding useless rock, and mines out a diamond for all eternity.

Previously, I thought the Bible was just a promise book, or a book of blessings, or a way to know how to get into heaven or avoid hell.  I was told that it was pretty much about me and God’s plan for my life.  No one told me it was actually God’s plan for all time for all mankind.  My cherry-picking of verses caused me to miss the forest from the trees, to see, and misunderstand, the whole purpose of God, “that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation”(2 Corinthians 5:19).  Where before I was trying to get God to do things for me by claiming verses that applied to my immediate situation, now I see that God is calling me to partake in His mighty plan, and that as one of His followers, I already have His protection, providence, and presence.  I don’t have to “name” or “claim” any verse.  Often I found myself frustrated when I didn’t receive the answers to those claimed promises as quickly as I wanted.  But the promises of God are not meant to be “on demand,” like payments from an insurance claim.  They are not instant fixes to the trials, tribulations, and sufferings of this present world which we were told we would encounter, and often must endure.  Instead they are meant to be like meat that must be chewed and chewed and savored before swallowing, and though it takes some time to digest, strengthens us inwardly so we can endure and overcome the challenges of life, whether they stay a moment, a day, or a season.

Several additional things I learned from my reading adventure.  First, that it takes time, real time, to pursue God and to get to know him.  He waits patiently for us to get to that point, but He won’t compromise and allow shortcuts, because there are none.  He only reveals Himself to those who “seek him with all their heart.”  His ways are not our ways, and are not changed with the increase of human technology.   Secondly, pursuing God is a lifelong adventure, that should result in an inward transformation.  That transformation wasn’t apparent to me at first, but when the tough times came, I found that my faith was no longer in cherry-picked verses taken out of context to benefit my wanton desire for an effortless existence.  No, instead I found that my faith was grounded in the revealed nature of the omnipotent God, who had the world, and the universe, in His hands and at His command.  My faith was no longer driven by a “verse a day,” though well-intended, is taken out of context, and is a weak (the apostle Paul called it “milk'”) substitute for the true meat of the whole Word of God.  I no longer had to search for the perfect verse to “get me through the day.”  Instead, I found a foundation of assurance and strength that I could confidently stand on in all situations.  Thirdly, I realized that it wasn’t a preacher or religious broadcast that was my source of spiritual food, but that God himself had become my Teacher, as His Spirit in communion with my own, revealed Himself to me as I read and thought about the truths and events on the pages before me each day.

Since then I have begun to invite others to the same challenge in hopes that they, too, will find depth and meaning beyond the self-centered, shallow existence of “on demand” claims to God.  But the takers are few because the challenge is great. I enjoy reading biographies of people who have done much with their life.  The books are often lengthy, and sometimes get bogged down in details that may at first seem irrelevant.  But, when complete, I get a greater appreciation of how they became the person I wanted to read about.  Imagine if you wrote your life story in a detailed memoir, and someone came along and pulled one sentence at a time from random pages, quoting them authoritatively to others, and claiming they know all about you.  Those sentences could say any number of things, but without context will paint a very different picture than what you had written in the whole account.  Yet, that is what we do to God when we pick and choose sentences from His Story, wave them before Him like a magic wand, and claim that we know who He is and what He needs to do for us.  Instead, allow Him to tell you the whole story, and let it change you, motivate you, and make you into His image.  He’s waiting–for you!

Categories: Living It

Tags: featured