While I was blogging yesterday I started to go off on a rabbit trail (I tend to do that--oops!) which is highly related to what I was talking about... it's part of what God was showing me then, too. That is, how we read the Bible (for devotions or for study) is important. Therefore, I wish to explore this subject now.
Context is very important in the proper understanding of the Scripture. When the Bible was penned all those thousands of years ago, there were no chapter/verse divisions. As I understand it, there wasn't even punctuation as we know it. I remember when I was younger being frustrated at Bible memorization programs that only gave you part of a verse to memorize. I felt like if you were going to do that, you could take any phrase out of the Bible and make it say whatever you want. Come to find out, that's precisely what some people do. (Not bad deduction for a kiddo, eh Watson?). As I got older I realized that even just reading or quoting one or two verses was not much better. Verse divisions do not necessarily begin and end with sentences. In fact, they usually don't. So I had this brilliant idea: I decided to take one of the smaller books of the Bible (one of the Epistles) and read it as much like it was written as possible. I read it like it was a letter from a friend. (go figure-- an Epistle = a letter) What an epiphany! I had sorta guessed by then that context was important, but here it was before my eyes. What enlightenment to take a whole letter of which I knew bits and pieces and read the whole thing. It made so much more sense. And it made me realize that so much of what I had been taught was based off of verses that had been extracted from their context, leaving their meanings subject to the teacher's interpretation. Not cool.
Now, before I go on, I want to point out the fact that God's Word is living, powerful, and perfect. Perfect meaning complete and multi-faceted. Much like a diamond can be looked at from many angles--still being the same diamond. For example, oftentimes there is a literal meaning (or meanings) AND a symbolic meaning(s). This is how you can read a passage over and over and come up with a new revelation each time. Because it's not just words on a page--it's God-breathed, God-inspired words on a page which interact with the living Holy Spirit of God inside of you, who takes what you read and applies it to your life in the most personal way possible. It's simply amazing! I don't know if I can even adequately explain it, but you who have experienced it know what I mean.
Now, the point of my rabbitish trail is that there is a place for "personal interpretation" of scripture BUT I must also clarify it must follow certain rules. #1 it must be consistent with all of Scripture. #2 it must be consistent with the heart of God. (perhaps redunadant, but a necessary distinction, methinks) #3 context of the Scripture must be taken into account to be sure the interpretation is valid, not just something you burped up after eating too many extra long cheese coneys from Sonic. Every day, somewhere in the world, whether in the pulpit or in private Bible study, the Word of God is grossly misconstrued and strange doctrines are born because people don't take context into consideration. Some of these doctrines have even become major teachings of the church! I won't start naming them now, but I will likely eventually be tackling some of them.
Now, let's take a look at the other side of the pendulum. Remember those speed-reader types I mentioned in part 1? They're great at getting the context. But they're missing something huge. The deep study where you actually pay attention to what you're reading and what it means. The part where you get out your Bible dictionary and concordance and all sorts of other delicious Bible study tools and have a serious "feast on the Word" like it was Thanksgiving dinner at grandma's house. (Do I sound like I'm salivating on my computer here?). Guess what though! It's impossible to properly do this without--you guessed it-- context. What did I say before? (say it with me class) Balance in everything.
Therefore, the key to proper Bible study (devos included) is a beautiful balance between taking in context and digging deep. There is a place for objective, expositional teaching/studying of the Bible, and there is a place for subjective teaching/studying of the Bible. One without the other = improper balance and improper balance is never a good thing.
Now I realize some people's heads may be spinning right about now. You look at your daily planner, back to me, back to your planner, now back to me... And as you add up the hours of Bible study we're looking at you say "Yikes!" and start wondering how you'll look in that monkish or nunnish garb. After all, you've already set aside 2 hours and 40 minutes a day for Bible study AND prayer, but it takes at least 4 hours to read through Genesis, not to mention getting down to the nitty gritty. Yes, I'm talking to you. Relax. As much as you would like to drop everything and spend your entire life reading and studying the Bible, I (and hopefully you) realize that's just not practical for 99.99999% of Christians. And anyway I'm pretty sure God doesn't want you to sit around and gorge yourself on the Bible 24/7 and ignore the world around you that is dying of hunger. Again! (say it with me!) BALANCE in everything!
I had this conversation with God too. And this is what I felt like God was telling me. Remember yesterday when I was talking about meditation? (you did read yesterday's post, didn't you? Good.) That's part of the equation. I find that if I take in large portions of scripture and saturate my mind with it, meditate on it, then study it expositorily (that's a word, right?) for however long it takes... Well, it's just like three square meals a day. I dare you to try it. I find that since I adopted that method of meditation and study I can pop scriptures off like crazy when people ask me questions. I get to have the most riveting theological conversations, too. It really is like a well-balanced diet! Furthermore, I'm much more likely to actively share my faith because it's at the forefront of my mind and because I'm more confident in my growing knowledge of the things of God.
This thought may be overwhelming to you, as it was to me at first. But rest assured, once you get things sorted out, it's really not that hard. What I learned to do is set aside several segments of the day for reading through the larger portions of scripture, spend most of the day meditating on it (which isn't hard to do since each reading segment is like a jump-start to the "thinking on scripture" train of thought), then I set aside a specific time (maybe not every day, depending on my schedule). Also, Bible on MP3 is a wonderful invention--I can listen during commutes and whatnot.
Different things work for different people. It's just up to you to figure out what works. Are you commited to being obedient to the Word by meditating on it? Are you willing to skip out on entertainment or leisure in order to get your spiritual sustinence? What's more important to you? Think about it.
