Bible reading through the years....

Create, by Shanna Noe

My Bible reading has taken on different characteristics and flavors through the years. I'm reading a chronological Bible plan right now.  If you are curious, you can find it here.   Although I follow the sequence, I don't follow the dating.  In fact, I've been in this plan for over 2 years now, but have just made it into the New Testament!  

Through the years I've used a variety of plans--some mixed it up so that I was reading OT, NT, and a psalm or proverb every day.  Most of them had a pace of reading through the entire Bible in a year, a place that I can manage, but find I don't necessarily enjoy.  

I would recommend both and all---it's good to move through the scriptures in a variety of ways.  One time, I spend two months on one chapter of John--John 17.  Of course, that was unusual, but it proved to be a deep well that warranted that much time.

Over the years, I've had different favorite books or sections.  When I was a new Christian, verses were easy to grab onto and that's when I found and held tightly a few key verses:

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." -Hebrews 4:15

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." -Philippians 1:6

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11

But after awhile, my sense of "favorites" tended to gravitate toward entire books, such as Romans.  Romans is my favorite book, and I suspect it will always be.  There is no other such sweeping and comprehensive statement of God's plan for man with regard to sin.

Romans 8:28 was a huge revelation for me and still is:

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

How freeing to know that He can use anything for our good and His glory.  Even the very events themselves, though sometimes tragic or sinful, are subject to His higher authority and good.

Another chapter that is dear to me is 1 Corinthians 15.  Although Paul struggles with cohesion and clarity in this passage at times, the truths contained within are such precious treasures.  I love the imagery of seeds dying to grow into something new, the thought that He will redeem us from death and that we cannot fathom what newness will come next.

The Old Testament seemed cumbersome for some years, but then I grew to love Genesis, Exodus, and even, shockingly, Leviticus.  Had someone told me I would enjoy Leviticus years ago I would have doubted it.  But it has taught me that God can take any piece of scripture and make it relevant and fascinating.  Or perhaps it's more than He can choose to take any heart and reveal the inherent beauty of His plan to it. 

Though I've moved away from preferring single verses, there are still I few that anchor my faith profoundly. One is:

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. -James 2:13

Whenever I'm in doubt about a decision or attitude, it helps me to bump my situation up again that one. The error, if any, should always be on the side of mercy.

Another thing that has changed has been a move from my hard copies of various Bibles to entirely reading online. I love this Bible software, E-Sword, as it allows me easy access to numerous translations, commentaries, and Bible dictionaries. It makes cross referencing effortless. I'm able to float from passage to passage, reference to reference, without the physical page flipping slowing me down.

I used to feel the need to underline, add art to the text and take copious notes. Next, there was a season where I studied the parables in depth, and then several years where I was fascinated with Matthew Henry's commentary on the scriptures and read them thoroughly. Right now, my favorite commentaries (as you will see from the content of this blog are the Bible Knowledge Commentary, the Biblical Illustrator, and the Believer's Commentary.

After over twenty years in the Word though, it's worth noting that my Bible experience keeps shifting and growing. Some aspects of my faith that were easy in my 20's have become hard in my 40's and visa-versa. Earlier, I used to crave others to read with me and keep me accountable, or throw ideas off of. Lately, I no longer feel that need, but enjoy turning things over more in my own spirit. It's always good to talk about the scriptures with others, I just don't feel a need for others to be reading in the same place as me anymore.

For those who never reach this level of intimacy or companionship with His Word, I grieve for them. And not because I believe it's sinful to not read the Bible regularly or anything so legalistic, but because they are missing out on such beauty and truth! His Word is the primary way that He chooses to reveal Himself to us and our world---why would anyone wish to miss out on that?

God is not about depriving or punishing as much as He's about enabling and freeing:

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. -John 3:17

The older I grow, the more I slow down in my Bible reading.  Too often I've sprinted past diamonds chasing an elusive Bible plan.  Here's a diamond of a story that I've grasped fast in my hand last week.  

Like many such stories, it's dangerously too familiar, but like a diamond illuminated by light, if I take time to examine it, each time I turn it, I find a new facet worth pondering.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish." 

"Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if You say so, I'll let the nets down again." 

And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 

A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.   When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh, Lord, please leave me—I'm too much of a sinner to be around You."

 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.  His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.  

Jesus replied to Simon, "Don't be afraid! From now on you'll be fishing for people!"         -Luke 5:4-10, NLT

John Reilly, The Miraculous Draught of Fish

Three things to dwell upon...

1. Let your life net down again, even if discouraged by failure:

"The word “Nevertheless” introduces THE GRAND CONTRAST AND ANTITHESIS OF THE TEXT. Gather into one all the heads and threads of discourse—we are weary of the monotony of life, weary of the perpetual round of doing and being, disappointed with the result of life, with what we are to-day in Thy sight—beings occupying a point and not more, between two eternities. Nevertheless, at Thy word, because Thou speakest in our ears today and sayest, “Launch out into the deep, the inscrutable future, the future of time and of eternity”; yes, at Thy word—otherwise we were languid and depressed and disappointed and could not—at Thy word we will once again, to-day, let down the net." -Dean Vaughan

2.  Be inspired by the noble actions of faithful brothers: 

"When you see a grand action, it is a call to you to imitate it; when you hear of a noble deed, it is a call to you to correct whatever of littleness or meanness may be in your own soul; when you see others walking with God, it is a call to you to join them, and to walk even as they. Sympathetic natures need no explanation at such times; they take in at once the meaning of the voices which they hear as they go on through life. Simon Peter felt what he saw; he felt how it bore on him; and feeling it, instantly and profoundly, his first motion was to draw back in alarm, and to pray the Lord to depart from him."-Morgan Dix, D. D.

3.  See yourself through His eyes first, then you may benefit others:

"That the knowledge of self, obtained through the discovery of Christ, is one of the main elements of power in seeking to benefit others. It is not a little remarkable that when God has called some of His greatest servants to signal service He has begun by giving them a thorough revelation of themselves, through the unveiling to them of Himself. Thus, when He appeared to Moses at the bush, the first effect was that Moses trembled and durst not behold, and the ultimate issue was that he cried, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent:... but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." Peter recognised the deity of Jesus through the miracle; but the light of that Godhead did, at the same time, flash into his own heart, and reveal him unto himself as he had never had himself revealed unto him before. Then came the Master’s "Fear not," with its soothing influence; and thus, through his discovery of himself, and his knowledge of his Lord, he was prepared for his apostolic service."  -Sermon's Bible Commentary

"The form of the preaching of Jesus was essentially Jewish. The Oriental mind does not work in the same way as the mind of the West. Our thinking and speaking, when at their best, are fluent, expansive, closely reasoned. The kind of discourse which we admire is one which takes up an important subject, divides it out into different branches, treats it fully under each of the heads, closely articulates part to part, and closes with a moving appeal to the feelings, so as to sway the will to some practical result. The Oriental mind, on the contrary, loves to brood long on a single point, to turn it round and round, to gather up all the truth about it into a focus, and pour it forth in a few pointed and memorable words. It is concise, epigrammatic, oracular. A Western speaker’s discourse is a systematic structure, or like a chain in which link is firmly knit to link; an Oriental’s is like the sky at night, full of innumerable burning points shining forth from a dark background. Such was the form of the teaching of Jesus. It consisted of numerous sayings, every one of which contained the greatest possible amount of truth in the smallest possible compass, and was expressed in language so concise and pointed as to stick in the memory like an arrow. Read them, and you will find that every one of them, as you ponder it, sucks the mind in and in like a whirlpool, till it is lost in the depths. You will find, too, that there are very few of them which you do not know by heart. They have found their way into the memory of Christendom as no other words have done. Even before the meaning has been apprehended, the perfect, proverb-like expression lodges itself fast in the mind." -James Stalker

Some of such truths I've turned over and over:

"Do to others as you would have them do to you."

"Consider the lilies of the field..."

"Blessed are the meek...." 

"In my father's house, there are many rooms..."

"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness..."

"He was sinless, and yet He never had a harsh word for the sinners—provided they were not hypocrites."  -Biblical Illustrator

Jesus cleansing the temple, Stained Glass Incorporated

Teachability

Unknown - Original image: Photochrom print (color photo lithograph) 
Reproduction number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-02740 from Library of Congress, 

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets."  Luke 5:4-5

 "Though an experienced fisherman himself, Peter accepted advice from a Carpenter, and as a result, the nets were filled. “ ... at Your word I will let down the net.” This shows the value of humility, of teachability, and of implicit obedience."     -Believer's Bible Commentary

I believe there are times when the Lord calls us to trust Him implicitly, though his direction may be contrary to our humanly acquired knowledge.  Yet, I don't believe that He calls us to make foolish unfounded emotional investments.  

This thought worried me as a child.  When I was taught this story years ago, I could not grasp how a man could leave his entire livelihood without thought, how we could be expected to do the same. To trust anyone or anything so quickly and completely seemed capricious and rash.  God longs for us to be impulsive?  The thought excluded people like me who are studied and cautious.

As an adult, I see the seeds of prior thought and relationship:  Peter had encountered Jesus several times before this.  His brother Andrew had initially introduced Peter to Jesus, even as the Messiah:

"He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah " (which translated means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas " (which is translated Peter)." John 1:41-4

The NLT translates "looking at Simon intently" Strongs: From G1722 and G991; to look on, that is, (relatively) to observe fixedly, or (absolutely) to discern clearly: - behold, gaze up, look upon, (could) see.

Personally, I like "to discern clearly"--certainly Christ perceived all men clearly, for what they were and what they were not.  Peter had Christ look at him in this way and rename him.  All of this surely, coupled with Andrew's claims, made a deep impression on Peter long before he was asked to let down his nets.

Additionally, in the prior chapter of Luke, Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law's fever--completely and instantly restored her health. 

Peter's faith in letting down the nets was not without significant foundation.  

At this point in his relationship, however, Peter did have to let go of his experience and preconceived notions about fishing--a field he knew much about. His choice to trust resulted in greater confirmation---great enough for him to leave the known and follow Christ into the unknown.

He does desire faith, but in His mercy, He scaffolds and justifies the steps if we take time to consider.