How do I approach reading the Bible?
Books can open us to a whole new world through all kinds of new knowledge gleaned from their pages. Whether it is a cook book that details a new recipe or a novel that opens your eyes to a different time and era, you come to know new things through books.
The Bible is certainly no different and opens us to the knowledge of God himself and gives us a glimpse into his very heart and being.
As you read the Bible to gain knowledge of God, a good question to ask is “what kind of knowledge am I after?”
Knowledge by awareness: At a basic level, we can know something simply by having awareness of it. We can become aware about the death of someone famous from the news, but awareness of it has little impact on our personal lives.
Knowledge by description: We can know about something by description. If someone were to read an autobiography of you, they would know a lot about you from the descriptions of your personality and life. But unless they were a personal friend of yours with first hand experience of the things in your book, it is still just an impersonal knowledge of you.
Knowledge by experience: Then there is the deepest kind of knowledge, a personal knowledge gained by experience. You can claim you personally know a city if you have lived in it, walked its streets and experienced its sights and sounds. You can say you know someone personally if you have a friendship or relationship with them.
The Bible was written for this deeper kind of personal knowledge —it was written to give you an experiential and personal knowledge of God.
On a deeper level, the Bible allows you to actually experience God first hand because its very words are God-breathed. It is God’s message to you, written from his heart to speak to yours. It can bring life to you — bringing alive the depths of who you are as it connects you with God’s heart.
Let the goal of your Bible reading be to gain a true knowledge of God, a personal knowledge which requires reading with your whole being.
Read it with your mind
Read the Bible with your mind to find out what its main message is without ascribing your own meaning to it — let it speak for itself. This kind of reading is comparable to how you might read a newspaper article. You have to read it to understand what it is actually saying before you can react to what it is saying.
As you read, ask questions about the main characters and central themes in the grand narrative of the Bible’s story line. What does it say about Jesus? God? Humanity? How does it give insight, clarify or change your view of who God is? Jesus? How people are?
Engage more than your mind
The Bible is much more than just a book — it is God’s letter to people and his intention is to speak to you through its words. Keeping this in mind, be willing to engage with what you read. What do you think about what it is saying? How do you react to what you are observing? What resonates with you? What doesn’t sit so well with you? Why?
Respond to what you read
True knowledge and understanding happens when you respond to what you are reading and experience it for yourself. God intends for the Bible to be much more than mere information for you — there is power in its pages for transformation.
Just as a book on time management will not change your ability to manage time unless you test it out and apply what’s in the book, the Bible really comes alive and offers strength to live for all who believe in its message and act on it.
Just to intellectually agree with the message of the Bible falls far short of the personal and true knowledge of God that he intends you to experience. At some point you will need to decide on what you think the Bible is saying. How will you respond to its message?
Ask for spiritual insight to understand
Knowledge of God and of the Bible is a spiritual knowledge that can’t be merely grasped intellectually. As you read the Bible, be honest with your questions, doubts and thoughts. Ask God to illuminate and engage your mind, heart and life with true understanding.