Living by the Book/Living by the Book Workbook Set (18 page)
Read Living by the Book/Living by the Book Workbook Set Online
Authors: Howard G. Hendricks,William D. Hendricks
Tags: #Religion, #Christian Life, #Spiritual Growth, #Biblical Reference, #General
EAD
M
EDITATIVELY
T
he seventh strategy to becoming a first-rate reader of the Bible is a hard one for most of us:
EAD THE
B
IBLE
M
EDITATIVELY
In other words, learn to reflect on it. That’s hard, because more and more of us are living in the “laser lane.” In the old days, if people missed the stagecoach they’d say, “That’s OK. We’ll catch it next month.” Today, if a guy misses a section of a revolving door it throws him into a tizzy!
As a result, meditative Bible reading has fallen out of favor. I can remember a hymn we used to sing, “Take Time to Be Holy.” But I don’t hear it much anymore, and I can understand why. Time is exactly what it takes to become holy. We can’t be holy in a hurry. And yet, as I said earlier, we live in an instant society, and a distracted society. We’ve got so much stuff coming at us from TV, cell phones, e-mail, “snail mail,” BlackBerries, satellite links, cable feeds, and podcasts that we barely have time to react, never mind reflect. But you can’t “download” spirituality.
That’s why Scripture speaks so frequently about meditation. I want to give you five passages to whet your appetite in that regard.
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall
meditate
on it [When?] day and night, [Please note!] so that you may be careful to do [Not to know; to do!] according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. (italics added)
That verse shows that there is a close connection between meditating on God’s Word and acting on it. That’s going to be key when we get to Step Three, Application. Here I want to point out the frequency with which biblical truth should percolate through your mind: “day and night.” That leads me to ask, What portion of Scripture was I thinking about this morning as I started my day? While I was at work? As I made my way home? For that matter, when was the last time I consciously reflected on biblical truths and principles?
One day I was reading through Proverbs when a phrase leaped off the page at me: “For as [a person] thinks within himself, so he is” (23:7). That really grabbed me, perhaps because I had just seen a sign in someone’s office that read, “You are not what you think you are. What you think, you are!” Scripture teaches the basic principle that you become what you think. So be careful what you think!
The first psalm has a similar message:
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he
meditates
day and night. (italics added)
There’s that day-and-night pattern again! That’s typical of meditation. It’s not just an exercise that you carry out for fifteen or twenty minutes and then check off your list. It’s a mental discipline that you carry throughout your day. It’s a mind-set and a lifestyle in which the Word courses through your mind.
That’s what makes biblical meditation altogether different from meditation as we know it in our society. Meditation as popularly taught by the Eastern philosophies tells you to empty your mind. But that’s the exact opposite of what the Scriptures say. Biblical meditation means filling your mind with the truth that God has revealed.
Psalm 119 reinforces that idea, as the psalmist cries,
O how I love Thy law!
It is my
meditation
all the day. (italics added)
Have you ever observed that most of us waste an awful lot of time doing routine things such as waiting on the phone, standing in line, driving to work? I asked a friend in Los Angeles how much time he spent commuting. “One-and-one-half hours going to work, one-and-one-half hours coming from work,” he told me. That’s three hours every day, five and sometimes six days a week—a massive amount of time! Millions of commuters spend that much or even more time getting to work and back.
But what are they doing with their minds during that time? I suspect that most of them travel along with their minds in neutral, listening to the radio or a CD or their iPod, and getting steamed at all the other drivers around them. But what a great time to put one’s mind into gear!
That’s why I’ve started using recordings of Scripture when I’m on the road, as I indicated in chapter 9. It’s unbelievable what listening to God’s Word does for me, especially to prepare me for the day’s activities. It allows the truth to wrap itself around my heart.
Psalm 19 offers some profound insight into Scripture. You must study that passage. It focuses on the Word of God, telling you what its characteristics are: “The law of the L
ORD
is perfect. . . . The statutes of the L
ORD
are trustworthy. . . . The precepts of the L
ORD
are right,” and so on (vv. 7-8,
NIV
).
It also tells you what the effects of the Word are. For example, it “revives the soul.” Ever feel like you’re out of gas? The Word of God can get you going again! It also “makes wise the simple.” It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been to college or what your IQ is. What matters is how teachable you are, how willing you are to program your mind with the wisdom that Scripture provides.
As a climax to that psalm, the psalmist prays,
May the words of my mouth and the
meditation
of my heartbe pleasing in your sight,
O L
ORD
, my Rock and my Redeemer. (v. 14,
NIV
, italics added)
That is a revealing prayer. It shows that the psalmist viewed meditation as an absolute necessity to his spiritual life. But if that was the case for him in his day, how much more essential must it be for those of us living in this generation, facing the pressures of our world! We need to bathe our minds in the waters of the Word so that our words and our thoughts become pleasing in God’s sight.
Use your time—at the beginning of the day, at coffee break, during your lunch hour, riding home from work, before you go to sleep at night—to reflect upon the truth that you study.
To be honest, the greatest changes that God has brought about in my life have come through the process of meditation—just allowing the Word of God to filter and percolate through my mind and into my life. I’ve learned that first-rate Bible reading calls not for snapshots but for timed exposures.
I
f you are not in the habit of reading the Bible meditatively, here’s a suggestion to get started: Set aside a day when you can get away from your routine—no work, no interruptions, no commitments. Perhaps you have a favorite spot in the country or by the seashore, or access to a lake house. Wherever it is, find a place where you can spend several hours alone.
Devote your time to meditating on John 4:1–42, the account of Jesus visiting Samaria. Begin by asking God to help you gain insight into His Word and show you how to apply it. Then read the passage several times. Use the suggestions for repeated Bible reading in chapter 9.
Examine the sections before and after John 4 to place it in context. Then look carefully at the passage to answer such questions as: Who are the people in this story? Who were the Samaritans? Why was it unusual for Jesus to talk to this woman? What was the reaction of her neighbors? Of the disciples? What does Jesus tell them when they return? What lessons does this passage teach about telling the gospel story to others?
After you’ve got a grasp of the story, think about what implications it might have for you. For instance, what kinds of people do you normally stay away from? Why? How would those people respond to the gospel? Is there anything you could do or say that would help them come closer to Christ and ultimately to trust in Him? When it comes to evangelism, are you a sower or a reaper (vv. 36–38)? Or neither? With which of the characters in the story do you most identify? Why?
How did you come to faith in Christ? Who told you about Jesus? What was your response? Whom have you told about Jesus? What did you say? What was the response? Are there principles in this story that you could use the next time you tell people about Christ?
You can come up with additional questions. The goal is to chew on the Word, looking for insights, and to examine yourself, looking for ways to apply Scripture. Be sure to write down everything you observe in the passage, as well as your conclusions. And spend time in prayer. On the basis of what you’ve studied and meditated on, what is God telling you? What do you need to tell Him? Where do you need His resources and help? What opportunities for evangelism would you like Him to open for you?
EAD
P
URPOSEFULLY
R
emember 2 Timothy 3:16–17, a passage we looked at in chapter 2? It says that all Scripture is given by divine inspiration and is “profitable.” In other words, it serves a purpose—four purposes, as a matter of fact: teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteous living. This suggests an eighth strategy for first-rate reading of Scripture:
EAD THE
B
IBLE
P
URPOSEFULLY
Purposeful reading looks for the aim of the author. There isn’t a verse of Scripture that was thrown in by accident. Every word contributes to meaning. Your challenge as a reader is to discern that meaning.
How can you do that? One of the keys to determining purpose is to look for structure. Every book of the Bible has both grammatical and literary structure. Let’s see these in action and consider how they contribute to meaning.