Broken and Beloved

ENCOUNTERING THE LORD IN THE WORD

BY AIMEE TAYLOR

We often hear people talk about ‘studying’ the Bible, and truly, there is nothing wrong with good study. We need to dig in, gather knowledge, and understand the context for what we read in the Word. I am not in dispute with some good study, but here is my dispute, my big BUT. Scripture rarely uses the word ‘study’ when it offers up how we are to handle the Word of God. Psalm 119 is the most profound passage of Scripture about Scripture, yet there is not one mention of the word ‘study’ in all its 176 verses. Instead, it uses phrases like meditate on, love, that we are to crave the Word, and be faithful to it. There are prayers to see the Word clearly, cling to it, and celebrate it. Psalm 119 also goes on to say things like Your Word revives me and instructs me; and the author prays for help to keep the Word and obey it. The New Testament ‘go to’ passages are no different. 2 Tim 3:16-17 tells us that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (ESV) Or, look at Hebrews 4:12-13: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (ESV)

So DOES study fit into all of this? Yes. But I don’t believe it is meant to be our main approach to Scripture. Instead, Scripture should be our main gateway into encountering our good God.

When we become Christ-followers, we enter into a grand and beautiful relationship with the Creator of the universe. When we recognize we are sinners in need of Jesus’ death and resurrection to cover us, and then we, in turn, give our lives over to Him, He gifts us with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit not only seals our salvation, but He also lives within us to guide, teach, and comfort us. In John 16:13, it says that the Holy Spirit is given to us to guide us into all truth and reveal to us what Jesus has said to Him (paraphrase from ESV). This same Holy Spirit helps illuminate the Word to us; He is to be our main teacher in the Word, so that we might know the heart of God.

Scripture is meant to be the place where we meet with God by engaging with His living and active words as the Holy Spirit lights them up for us to know Him. This is where we hear His thoughts, His heart’s desire, His will, and what is pleasing to Him. We are meant to meet Him there to get to know Him and have our hearts and minds awakened by the voice of the Spirit! So, though it’s good to gain an understanding of context and everything else that ‘study’ brings, if our study never leads us into RELATIONSHIP, then we are missing the point of Scripture and we need to ask the Spirit to help us examine our motives.

Do we come to listen to the voice of the Spirit through the Word to tell our hearts what we need to know right here, right now? Do we come with that expectancy of the ongoing need for repentance in our lives as we give over new areas of our hearts and minds that we didn’t even know we had not released to Him? Are we coming into the Word with the idea that He wants to reveal himself to us and that He might just want to spend time with us? Or that He might want to shower us with love, affection, or encouragement? As we study ABOUT God, we need to listen TO God, and allow Him to lead us into a relationship with Him. We must be careful to not seek more information while turning away from a relationship. In John 5:39, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (ESV)

Jesus wants us to find life in Him when we meet him in the Word! We need to meditate on the Word, chew on it over and over again, and ask the Spirit to illuminate it to our hearts. We need to love the Word. It may indeed expand your mind with knowledge, but hopefully, this is because you are hearing from the Lord while you are reading it and getting to know His heart better. Do you crave the Word with a ‘can’t wait’ feeling for the next time you get to taste it and see His goodness in new ways? Do you cling to the Word as if it is life, allowing it to influence and dictate how you live so that you are pleasing the Lord rather than just yourself? The Word should be a beautiful place to meet with the God of the Universe, where tinyyou gets to meet with Massive-Him and hear what He wants to speak to your heart.

Don’t let reading God’s Holy Word be just an exercise. Instead, see it as God Himself inviting you to spend with Him. Knowing ABOUT God is good, but ACTUALLY KNOWING God is a million times better. And that is the exact intention of the Word of God.