Next quarter I’m teaching a class on “Knowing Your Bible.” Naturally, as I prepare for this, I’ve been thinking of all the different topics and ideas that relate to knowing your Bible and personal Bible study, and one of the things I keep coming back to is the idea of our expectations.
When we open a novel, we expect to be entertained. When we open a book of cartoons, we expect to be amused. When we turn to a “how-to” or other non-fiction book, we expect to be educated.
What do we expect when we open the Bible?
Unfortunately, if we’re not careful, much of the time we expect:
- To have done our Christian duty.
- Not to understand what we read.
- To get the same thing out of it that we got the last time we read it.
- Worst of all, we may expect nothing.
What we expect to get out of something is huge. If we don’t expect much, chances are that is just what we’ll get: not much.
So what should we expect when we open The Book?
- Great things: Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Psalm 119:18. We can expect to see something “wondrous” when we open the Bible. It doesn’t matter how many times we’ve read a particular verse or chapter or book; there is more truth there to see.
We don’t need to be hung up on seeing “new” things. Just because something is not “new” doesn’t mean it can’t be a great revelation to you; sometimes I think my best times reading the word are when I am able to see some foundational truth, like redemption, or righteousness, as though for the first time. New? Not necessarily. Wondrous? Absolutely.
- Life: For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12.
You may be aware that the word “quick” in the King James Version above really means alive. We have a scripture that is alive, a living revelation from our Father to us. Expect to be opening a living book.
- Work: My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. … For they are life unto those that find them… Proverbs 4: 20-22.
We just saw the scripture described as “alive” and here again see it described as “life”: but note the whole phrase: …they are life unto those that find them. We should expect to get something out of the Word every time we open it, but we should also expect that we may need to set aside a little time; we may need to dig a little. We might need to search to find the a passage which sheds more light on another passage which had confused us. “Expecting wondrous things” is not an excuse to be lazy.
- Action we can take: For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 2:26.
We could paraphrase “faith without works” as “beliefs without corresponding action” without taking anything away from the scripture; that is exactly what the phrase means. It’s great to say we believe the Bible; but we ought to be able to find something we can do as a result of what we read. In other words, look for practical applications for what you are reading, and expect to find them.
- Growth: As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby… 1 Peter 2:2.
Peter tells us here that the Word will enable us to grow; so that is exactly what we should expect: that we are and will continue to grow spiritually as we get into the word.
- To be changed: Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2.
Here we are told that when we finally see Him (Jesus) we will be like Him, because we’ll see Him as He is. Well, that day hasn’t come yet, but since He is the Word (John 1:1-3), we should expect that as we see more of Him in the Word, we become progressively more like Him.
In other words, we should expect to be changed by the Word.
So, if you’re a Bible reader, next time you open the Bible, pause for a moment and reflect on one, or more, or all, of the preceding items, and just make the choice to expect that as you read the Word.
It sure beats just flipping through a few verses out of a sense of obligation and putting it back on the shelf.
