How I Read My Bible

I am boggled by God; completely bowled over by Him!  The fact that He Is boggles me – I could wrestle before Him with that truth every day for the rest of my life and still not understand Him in His Holy fullness.  Yet He invites me to come, and I echo with Peter – where else would I go?  He alone has the words of life!!!  (John 6:68)  The fact that God invites me to come to Him and that He chooses to reveal Himself to me is mind-blowing!  And as I hear from Him, everything I think I know about life, about myself, about other people, and certainly about Him is challenged – He lifts my thoughts higher, He clarifies, He clears away confusion and lies. (Romans 12:2)

As I write from Thanksgiving into the New Year, I will be using my basic approach to Bible reading, and my thoughts will flow from that approach.  When I read the Bible, I do so with questions in mind.  The first and foremost question I have as I read is “What is God telling me about Himself?”  How does He show up?  Does this passage tell me something about His character, about how He thinks, about what He values, about how He responds to us or how He acts?  Is what I’m seeing about Him new to me?  Does this challenge some ideas about God that I have?  Do I need Him to help me change how I see Him?     If I’m going to be transformed, change is a given.

The second question I keep in mind is “What is God telling me about me?”   Do I see my attitudes, actions, facets of my character addressed in this passage?  Is there something that He wants to change, or challenge me with?  Does this passage reinforce something I’m already doing, and encourage me to continue? 

The third question is “What is God showing me about other people?”   Can I gain insight into how others think, how I should treat them or address them, how He values them and what He wants for them?

Finally, I ask Him “What do You want me to do about what I’ve seen here?”  This is what many call “application”.  It’s also obedience.  He’s God, I’m His child – reading my Bible is like being home-schooled, just me and my Teacher.  Now I want to show my Teacher what I’ve learned – and I need Him to change me, to empower me to live out whatever He has shown me.

That’s why He gave us the Word, and why we study it – to learn what He has revealed about Himself, to learn how to think about ourselves, to learn how to conduct ourselves toward others, and the be transformed into the likeness of His Son.  I’m praying that these devotionals will lead us into a deeper walk with Him throughout the Holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving!