HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BIBLE
The first step is to read. Read slowly. Read thoughtfully. Read daily. Just read.
How you read means as much as what you read. Many people approach reading the Bible as a religious duty or a way to get in good with God. Worse still, some believe God will send a horrible punishment if they don’t dedicate at least a half hour to dutiful study of his Word. God’s Word gives life, not guilt. Coming to the Bible with so much religious baggage takes all the fun out of reading it.
Others read like they are preparing for a history test on European Socialism. But reading the Bible isn’t simply a fact-finding mission. You don’t come just to collect bits of trivia about God. Far from it. Rather, God gave his Word as the place where you meet him face-to-face.
And others read the Bible like it’s a treasure-hunting expedition with nuggets of knowledge hidden within the pages to make each day a little brighter, a little easier. But from the moment you read the first line of the Bible, you will discover this book isn’t about you. It’s about God. He permeates every page from beginning to end.
Eugene Peterson’s introduction to The Message, which immediately follows this section, will give you even more insight into how to read the Bible. Reading is the first step, and in some ways the most important step. You must immerse yourself in God by immersing yourself in his story.
You can skim through the latest issue of Sports Illustrated and never again think about what you read. While you could try to do that with the Bible, you won’t want to. The stories stick with you long after the book is closed. Some parts will leave you scratching your head and wondering, Did I just read what I thought I read?! Other passages will flash through your mind like a life preserver to a drowning man, God’s promises and his words of reassurance carrying you through the difficulties of life. Still, other parts will make the difficult aspects of life even more difficult. This isn’t a book of easy answers or quick formulas to happiness and success. Nor does it flatter you with empty words of praise. If it did, it wouldn’t fit the broken world in which we find ourselves.
The Bible speaks to real people in a real world spoiled by sin. Taking it all in demands that you engage your mind and think through every word you read. Ask questions and search for answers. Ponder each story; listen to every verse. Watch for what each passage says about God, what it says about the human condition, and how the two go together. Reading the Bible becomes an interactive experience when you think as you read.
To help you along the way, we’ve included questions at the end of each reading, along with a reflection section every seventh day. The questions are designed to turn you back to what you just read. You can write responses if you like, but most of the questions don’t have simple yes-and-no answers. We want you to see yourself and listen for God’s voice in the stories you are about to read. More than anything, we want to help you be ready to answer God when he calls.
Reading the Bible draws you into a conversation with God. He speaks through his Word. As he does, you respond through prayer. Don’t just ask for things or beg for help on that big test you forgot to study for. Praying as you read simply means talking with God about the things he said to you in his Word. When you find something new or surprising or troubling, talk to God about it. Days lie ahead where God will lift his words off the page and shove you out of your comfort zone with them. How can you not respond? The psalmist prayed, “Help me understand these things inside and out so I can ponder your miracle-wonders” (Psalm 119:27). Make the psalmist’s prayer your own.
Yet we don’t always know how we should pray. Nor are we always sure how God feels about a question we face. Let the Bible guide you as you pray by allowing its words to fill your prayers. Praying the Bible back to God enriches your prayer life and aligns your requests with God’s desires. You still may not understand what you are reading or how the experience is changing your life, but letting the Bible guide your conversation with God reassures you that you don’t need specifics to trust that God knows what he’s doing.
The Bible says, “Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?” (James 2:17). Your reading is nothing but God-talk until it spills out of your life and moves you to act. And living the Message means more than cleaning up your act. The more you read, the more you will realize you can’t clean yourself up on your own. You quickly find yourself in a position where you must depend on what God has done rather than on what you can do. The Bible calls this faith, and you cannot please God without it.
Real faith is restless. It works inside of you and prompts you to engage the world just as God does in the pages of his Word. The more you read, the more you will find you must “trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Living the Word goes beyond religious performance. It means living for God and his purposes rather than your own desires. It means putting yourself at God’s disposal to use you however he may wish. Jesus once said, “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of” (John 10:10). When you live the Word, you truly live.
The psalmist once wrote, “Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see — how good GOD is. Blessed are you who run to him” (Psalm 34:8). That’s the idea behind Pause. Open your mouth and drink in God. Dive into his Word. He’s waiting to meet you there.