Day Twenty-Six | March 23 Study TWENTY-SIX

It was my second semester of Hebrew, and finals were coming quick. Now, we had been told exactly what was going to be on the exam: a passage from the Book of Jonah that we’d have to translate. But try as hard as I could, I just couldn’t figure out the rhythm. I just couldn’t figure out the rhyme. The translations escaped me. So, I determined to do the next best thing: I simply memorized the entire book in Hebrew. I aced the test; I passed the class … but I missed the point.

And I wonder how often that’s true of our times in God’s word? Instead of allowing them to transform us, we settle for the “next best thing”: letting them inform us. And maybe that’s where it starts for some of us … but it can’t be where it ends. God wants to encounter us. He wants to encourage us. He wants to change us. And one of the surest ways of experiencing that change is to put ourselves in positions to be changed.

It’s in opening our Bibles and opening our lives to what the Spirit wants to say – to what the Spirit needs to say – to our heads and hearts and souls. And a quick, obligatory, check-it-o -my-list sort of approach simply won’t work. It’s in allowing God to sustain us through His Truth: His promises and His presence that anoint our times of study. It’s in allowing the Bible to read us just as surely as we read it. It’s in knowing – not just the verses – but the Author.

So, if you’re not already doing so, set aside some time every day to consistently be in Scripture. Find a reading plan. Take your time. Ask your questions. Let your curiosity and imagination be stirred – knowing that God had you in mind when these words were penned. And read with expectancy because there’s a message waiting there for you. There’s a truth waiting there for you. There’s grace and love and mercy waiting there for you. The Sustainer is waiting there for you.