Keep Reading and Studying the Bible

When I was in high school, I attended the First Baptist Church of Concord in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Each Sunday, our music minister, Dave Hyers, would stand up, tell us the page number of the hymn we would sing, and then he would conduct the congregation as a large choir of worshippers.  Many people have a similar experience and love their memories of those kinds of services.

Now, even though we don't have hymnals in the pews at the church I serve, we still sing some congregational songs that would be found in a hymnal.  Just this past Sunday, we sang "How Great Thou Art," and our congregational choir thundered out praise to God.  Another song from the hymnal came to mind as I sat down to write this week's blog entry.  So, in your mind, turn to page 406 of The Celebration Hymnal, and let me quote the first verse of "Wonderful Words of Life."

Sing them over again to me; Wonderful words of life
Let me more of their beauty see; Wonderful words of life
Words of life and beauty; Teach me faith and duty
Beautiful words, wonderful words; Wonderful words of life
Beautiful words, wonderful words; Wonderful words of life

Were you humming the melody as you read the words?  Did you break into song?  Will it be stuck in your head for a while?  Whatever the case may be...this really is a wonderful song, reminding us of the value of God's Word.  In fact, the lyrics of the first two lines are the reason I began by quoting the hymn.  "Sing them over again to me...Let me more of their beauty see."  The idea is that through repeatedly hearing God's Word, the Holy Spirit can help us see clearer and deeper and greater truth than in previous hearings.

This is a common experience among Christians who are constantly reading and studying their Bibles.  Let me begin by saying that seeing more beauty in God's Word does not mean that new truth has been infused into a given text, and we are not at liberty to make the text mean something different each time we read it.  However, it could be that we have been missing part of the Bible's teaching until now. We may have missed how the context shapes the meaning of the verse.  Or...we have the meaning right, but that same truth can intersect our lives at different times and in different circumstances, so that we find new implications of that truth for our lives.

There are two things I want to mention that are necessary to seeing new beauty in the Bible.  The first is the title of this entry...keep reading and studying the Bible.  We must be in the Bible consistently if we are to learn and grow and see its beauty.  This means that we do not consider ourselves "done" once we have read all of the Bible.  Also, in our daily reading, we do not skip those passages which seem most familiar to us...we thoughtfully and prayerfully read them again.  And when the Bible is quoted in the books we read, we don't just gloss over them...we read them again, knowing they are the very words of God.

In addition, this means we don't tune out when our pastor is preaching on a text we have heard preached many times.  We listen intently to hear what God says through the text, acknowledging that it may have greater, deeper, wider, or just different implications for our lives now...as opposed to the last time we studied it.  We also listen anew because, in doing so, we acknowledge that we may have missed something in the text...or in the context...that now makes it shine with new beauty. 

The second thing needed to see new beauty in the Word of God is humility.  It takes humility to admit that we need the same passage to be taught to us again.  It takes humility to recognize that we have not arrived and that we need to keep going back to what God has said again and again.  It takes humility to acknowledge, "I should have learned this by now, but I haven't"; so, I go back to God's Word to learn again.

Pride lays down the Bible, but what we need to do is lay down our pride.  We need to lay down the intellectual pride that says, "I know this already...what else could I possibly learn?"  We have to lay down our spiritual pride that says, "I know how to apply this...it's so-and-so who really needs it."  So, rather than get trapped in this kind of pride, let's humbly go the Bible over and over again.  Let's humbly read the Bible over and over again.  Let's study the Bible over and over again.  Let's receive the teaching of the Word over and over again.  Let's humbly ask the Lord to help us, by the Holy Spirit, to see in the Bible new beauty and to apply the Bible more fully.

Sing them over again to me; Wonderful words of life
Let me more of their beauty see; Wonderful words of life