Eating the Word

Americans love their Bible. It is the most owned and read least of any other book.  A recent survey discovered that 19% of regular churchgoers read the Bible every day while 18% read the Bible rarely or never. In addition, a recent Barna survey found that today’s younger generation views the Bible as less sacred and less accurate and personally engages with the Bible less than older generations. Some have gone so far as to say that today’s generation is “biblically illiterate.” At the same time, the Willow Creek REVEAL study found that “reflection on Scripture” is the single most important spiritual growth “catalyst” for all Jesus followers. Obviously we have a challenge when it comes to growing in God’s Word: we commonly “believe in” the Bible, we value the Bible, most of us own one or more Bibles, but we also tend to neglect a personal engagement with the Bible and therefore miss the single most important factor in our experience of personal transformation. So what do we need to do to begin a new lifestyle of active, personal engagement with God’s Word?

Maybe we should begin by reminding ourselves of why we value the Bible so highly. We serve a God who has not distanced himself from humanity but has gone to great lengths to consistently reveal himself to us. The Bible often refers to God’s self-revelation as the “word” of God, and that word is very powerful. It is the word that brought everything into existence in the first place. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). God’s word became specific and clear in both a Written Word and a Living Word. God’s revelation in Scripture and in Jesus tells the whole story of who God is, what God is like, and of the eternal purpose of God. Concerning Jesus we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). In the mystery of the Triune God the Father is revealing himself in his Word by the Holy Spirit. That’s why the apostle Paul described Scripture as “inspired” (2 Timothy 3:16), or literally, “God-breathed.” The breath of God, the Spirit of God, brought forth and rests on the Word of God. When we are born from above, the Spirit who is in us connects with the Spirit in God’s Word and we have a direct experience of God’s revelation. As Henry Blackaby says, reading and reflecting on Scripture does not lead us to an experience of God, it is an experience of God. It is the combination of the Spirit and the Word that has the power to transform our lives. That’s why Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63), and “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The writer to the Hebrews summarized it this way: “For the word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12). When tempted by Satan in the wilderness Jesus was victorious when he said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

But the power of God’s Word to transform our lives does not happen automatically or by some kind of magical process. It requires a regular, consistent, personal interaction on our part with the Word. And that begins by accepting fully the authority of God’s Word in our lives. It’s not possible to receive God’s revelation in the Word without having first committed ourselves to hearing and obeying whatever God says to us in the Word. Jesus said, “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own” (John 7:17). James reminded us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). We then learn to read Scripture reflectively and with humility, understanding our dependence on God to open our hearts and plant the Word in our hearts as good seed. “However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). We can then learn a healthy and consistent lifestyle of daily engagement with Scripture. That not only involves reading but also what the Bible calls “meditation,” a repeated pondering of a short passage of Scripture, asking questions about personal application. Meditation includes praying about what God is saying to us in that passage, and then repeating that word throughout the day. “Blessed is the one…whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.  That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season” (Psalm 1:1-3).

Don’t be in a hurry. Let God show you where in the Bible he wants you to read. Some passages are more appropriate than others in certain seasons of life. Know when to reflect on the Psalms or the Proverbs. Develop a sense of how to engage with the Gospels and the Epistles. Above all else, be prayerful and consistent. After all, God’s Word is your daily food; it is your life. And “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you” (Ephesians 1:17-18).