I read the Bible.
Everyday.
It is a constant.
Up or down, in pain or free, it is scripture, and the study of it, that is at the center of my life.
Which sounds really refined and intentional until you realize it is 3 AM and I just enjoyed a journey with Mark through Jesus’ life and a wonderful discussion of bodily discharges in Leviticus.
There is a shocking amount of bodily discharge in Leviticus.
It wasn’t always this way.
There was a day in life, long ago, when I was very much alone. When sleepless, or in pain, or bored… I had no answer but myself.
One day God changed that and I have never looked back.
The bible contains a much better answer.
Most years, I read the whole bible.
Often, when this comes up in discussion, friends will ask, “why?” and I’ve wrestled to find the truest answer to that.
At the start, I think it was the merit badges.
I was desperate to be better than the trainwreck I’d been and reading the bible more than the next guy was a cheap thrill and an easy way to feel good about myself.
Looking back I can see that I slipped on the identity God had given me in truth …and walked around in it as if it still wasn’t mine, something borrowed that must be returned.
I have to imagine that God probably smiled, and knew it would be good for me regardless.
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.
Romans 8:15-17
Today, I think I most love the fact that I am not in control.
The glory of the merit badges faded and the security of trusting God’s driving became my comfort.
On those days when 3 AM beckons with some anxious pain, there is great comfort to me in the fact that I am submitted to listen, not to speak.
That I pick up the text and discover what God has to say.
Even when it’s bodily discharges.
Maybe especially when it’s bodily discharges.
There’s great comfort in the reminder of shared humanity, if you have eyes to see it.
Don’t get me wrong… I love to study the aspects of scripture that interest me. With fellows or alone, to dive into a book, and angle, or a theme… it can be glorious.
But that’s not what I’m talking about today.
I’m talking about the spiritual practice of submitting oneself to a discipline of scripture. Where, rain or shine, fear or faith, joy or sadness… you do the task at hand.
Day after day.
You pick the book up.
You read the allotment of the day.
You do it again the next day. And the next. And the next.
If you’ve never done this, it’s a fair question to ask… “what might you find?”
Myself, I have found worlds of peace, and of trust, I would otherwise not have known.
Precisely because I am not determining the subject at hand.
I pick it up.
I open it.
I submit myself to God, in scripture, and I find out what He had to say.
Each of these, submitting and listening, moving in fellowship, unclear as to their primacy.
I choose to trust God… and I set about wading through the bodily fluids of the israelites as they make their way through the desert.
“But what about at 2 PM on a Tuesday Daniel?”
At 2 PM on a Tuesday, it’s a different story.
In the business of life… the pragmatism of a discipline of scripture is wholly something else, and the bodily fluids of the israelites can be far less a comfort.
They call for endurance instead.
In that moment, when pain does not beckon, nor curiosity, nor interest… and I submit myself to scripture it trains yet another part of me.
Picture me between meetings, in a car, my heart full of the tasks of the day, addressing this endless opportunity to grow closer to God.
…if I want Him at 3 AM, here, at 2 PM …I do not.
In this moment I am busy.
That is a problem.
If at 3 AM I train that part of myself that believes it wants control, at 2 PM I think I train that part of me that believes it has it.
That needs to let go.
Teaching me again and again, ‘you don’t have it, and you don’t need it.’
…I really dig the way Eugene has it in ‘The Message.1’
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)
“The unforced rhythms of grace.”
I love that.
That’s so true.
And so slowly, one day at a time, we go first one way and then the other. Him and I.
God shapes me, just as he shaped the israelites in the desert, as they wander back and forth.
God works to complete me, just as He promised.
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Philippians 1:6
It’s 4:30 AM now.
Tomorrow beckons.
And the question, of which of these things has more value? To submit to God in opening the book or in listening to God in what he has to say…?
I think the answer is a very careful, and precise, “yes.”
All scripture referenced is NLT unless otherwise noted. I prefer NLT for postural discussion as it is both reasonably rigorous while retaining a conversational tone.
For study I strongly encourage the use of original language tools, multiple translations, and rigorous critical thought.
Please remember that when you read the Bible in English you are always reading someone else’s theological interpretation of the text.
If you don’t know what ‘The Message’ is I encourage you to check it out. The work of Eugene Petersen, it is a broad paraphrase or ‘lived in commentary’ of the whole of the bible. It is amazing! I think it makes a phenomenal supplement to the study of scripture - but encourage holding it as Eugene’s interpretation rather than as scripture itself.
…though to be fair, you’re probably going to find me with Eugene on just about every subject.
I love the dialogue of, “ first we go one way and then another” a true authentic relationship. Keep it going