I have often returned to Psalm 119 to remind myself of the gift we have in the Bible. 176 verses of gratitude that God has spoken to humans and that God has revealed to humans instructions for how to live a blessed life. Like these:
Psa. 119:1 Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the LORD.
2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart—
3 they do no wrong
but follow his ways.
Or these:
Psa. 119:9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, LORD;
teach me your decrees.
More than a few pastors have confessed to me that they have formed the ungodly habit of reading the Bible only for a sermon.
More than a few churches have developed the unwise habit of small groups only reading books about leadership, about family life, about marriage, about this and about that but not about the Bible. Not Bible studies but book studies. Nothing wrong with those topics of course.
More than too many churches now routinely develop 6-week sermon series based on a topic rather than a Gospel or an Epistle or a Prophet.
What has happened to good old-fashioned daily Bible reading and book studies for sermons and home study groups working their way through a book in the Bible?
Take a look at some of the most widely-read books today by Christians and you will have a hard time finding one that is rooted in exposition of Scripture. The Bible is cited and used and exploited but the substance and the points come from somewhere else. What has happened?
Some of our publishers used to be devoted to Bible expositions shaped for ordinary Christians for their daily Bible reading. At some point – tell me when this happened if you remember – those publications shifted to what was clamoring for attention in our society and churches. Fine, we need to speak to our world with clarity and wisdom. But, what has happened?
We tend to get lost at times in what the Bible IS and forget what the Bible DOES to us as readers if we but listen. That is, we argued over inspiration and how it can happen? How deep is it? We argue over infallibility and inerrancy and wonder if they are just weapons. But Psalm 119 tells us what the Bible does to the reader.
But it doesn’t do that unless we “take and read” or pick it up, open it up, and listen up. We need not read it to seek some ecstatic blessing. We read it to fill our minds with what God wants us to know and hear and do. That’s what we claim as Christians for what the Bible is and does. Paul said it this way:
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for
teaching,
rebuking,
correcting
and training in righteousness,
17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:14-17).
God gave us the word, the ordinances, the statutes, the precepts, the law and its laws – and Psalm 119 uses eight terms throughout for what God has spoken, including “word” (davar) – to teach us, to rebuke us, to correct us, and to education us into what is right, and these four dimensions of God’s speaking to us are so we will be ready to do every good work we may need to perform.
I was so glad when John Goldingay and Tom Wright agreed to write their The Bible for Everyone series, and I was more than honored that Zondervan asked me to write the New Testament series for The Everyday Bible Study. Each day has a passage of Scripture, a brief explanation of that passage, and that explanation is shaped by a theme. Isn’t it a little fun that the first volume combines James with Galatians?
All fun aside, I’m asking you to pray for me as the schedule is for me to produce four of these per year for the next three plus years. I’ll need some stamina and tranquility and time. James and Galatians is out, Acts is at the printer, and Philippians with 1 & 2 Thessalonians is being edited. For each volume Becky Castle Miller writes study questions for individuals and groups.
May these books stir in us a deeper Bible piety.
Great emphasis. As I grow older I am more and more convinced of Bible reading being a blessed privilege.
I thought the same. Even before in-depth study of whole books, though, I think it's important just to read them through. To that end for the past year and a half I have been facilitating book club styled Bible reading groups using Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience from Tyndale. It has been life changing for all of the regular participants, even more than that for me. Reading scripture in community is amazing.