A lie we might be believing

It was early and still dark outside but I felt the tugging of the Spirit dragging my sleepy self out of bed. I turned in my Bible and read some, prayed and recalled the amazing events of the night before. God called a friend of mine to Himself through salvation. It was such a precious thing to witness. I still was on a high from it all and soaking up everything God was doing. He clearly had been working a long time. He just allowed me the opportunity to be there to witness his amazing pursuit of his new daughter. I journaled out my prayers and soon I heard the pitter patter of the seven year old making her way downstairs.

She comes over all sleepy eyed and tells me she is going to read her Bible. She told me she read in Revelation the day before. I questioned the validity of this and asked her what she read about. She said, “About coming out of her and not sharing in her sins that are piled up to heaven.” I was like, “Say huh?” And she repeats it almost word for word. I decide to turn there and sure enough she was recalling scripture from Revelation 18. Don’t ask me what it means. I haven’t a clue. I said, “Soph, honey, have you considered reading a story about Jesus in like Matthew, Mark or Luke perhaps?” She said, “Nope, I’m going to read in the book of Revelation again if I can find it.”  At least I knew where to tell her to turn. Last book of the Bible sweetie. She tells me there’s a lot about horses in the book of Revelation and that’s exciting. I fought the urge to tell her this was a hard book to understand. That she should read somewhere else. That it was just too hard for her understanding and mine for that matter. So there she sat reading the book of Revelation while I hung out in Colossians where I felt safe.

And I was reminded of the lie that many of us women are believing today – that God’s Word is too hard to understand. That we must rely on finding a good preacher to explain scripture on a Sunday morning or a good Bible Study teacher. Honestly, I fight this in a way because I tend to stay away from the Old Testament. I feel like it’s easier to understand the New Testament so that’s where I dwell usually. I guess it boils down to fear of what I presume to be complicated and unknown. Satan loves this tactic because if he can get God’s girls to be afraid to read the Bible for themselves then we will never gain the strength and the power that comes from the word being alive and active inside of us.

Studying God’s word is life changing. It is freeing and liberating. It sets our course of life and has to power to impact those around us. It’s the words of the One who gave up his life for us. And because he loves us and wants us to understand and love Him more He gives us the ability to understand his word through the Holy Spirit. This doesn’t mean we open up the Bible and are smacked in the head with a complete understanding of everything we read just because it’s the Bible. No, there will be questions and passages where we’re like, “Okayyyyy, and what am I to do with that today?” or “that just doesn’t even seem fair!” or “wow, they felt that way too?” or “oh my goodness that melts my heart.”  So many responses and emotions will come from reading God’s word. Do not be afraid of them. Don’t let your questions or your doubts or your lack of fully understanding keep you from reading God’s word. Be okay with the fact that you might get bored on some of your Bible reading days. It’s not going to be a mountain top experience every time you open God’s word. And that’s okay.

Reading God’s word pays dividends we can’t even imagine. And even when we think we’re not getting a thing out of it the Holy Spirit promises that his word won’t return void. Meaning it will have an impact on our lives at some point. It might be a few weeks later that we get clarity on something we read before but didn’t understand.

Don’t buy into the lie that the Bible is too hard to understand. Ask God to give you understanding and then pick up your Bible and start reading.

I have three suggestions for Bible reading.

1) Start in Matthew, Mark or Luke and read for the sole purpose of getting to know Jesus. Look at how he responded to people: poor people, prostitutes, religious people, criminals, etc. Ask yourself what this tells you about Jesus. Journal some of the things you learn.

2) I am also loving this book that a lady in our church told me about. I’m doing this for my daily devotions and have given it to three friends and about to send a copy to my Mom. I LOVE this book and am learning so much about the Old Testament and it makes so much sense to me. There is a chapter at the end of each day’s devotion you can read and that really gives an even greater understanding. Oh, it’s good stuff. check it out here…..

3)  The last thing I would recommend is getting involved in a ladies Bible Study. The accountability is great and there are some wonderful Bible Study teachers out there that are bringing home God’s word. Many of them have workbooks that help you learn to study your Bible through daily homework. So it’s like a guided self study. Good stuff. Our church is about to do a study by Priscilla Shirer on Gideon. If your church doesn’t offer a ladies study and you’re interested in attending one just pick up your phone and start calling local churches to see what’s offered in your area. They would love to have you join their group. And it be worth working through the potential awkwardness of being the newbie for what you would gain through the study.