Advice on Reading the Bible

God Cares for Us to Know Him

God, in His love towards us, gave us His Word so that we may come to know Him. God didn’t care to be inseparably distanced from those He created, but desired that His creation would know Him and be in a relationship with Him. A man of God named A.W. Tozer once said, “our pursuit of God is successful just because He is forever seeking to manifest Himself to us”. It is because the living God cares to reveal Himself to us that our searching after Him and finding Him is possible. In the Old Testament God spoke to His people and said, “and you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD” (Jeremiah 29:13-14a). What a wonderful thing this is, that God will be found by those who diligently seek Him with all of their heart!

Our pursuit of God is successful just because He is forever seeking to manifest Himself to us.

A.W. Tozer

Humanity was created uniquely by God and given the capacity to know Him, in a way that an animal like a dog or horse cannot. God chose humanity specifically. In the Apostle Paul's letter to the Christians in Ephesus, it says, “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). This should be a great cause for gratitude, that our God cares to know us and has given us a way for us to know Him.

The Way of Knowing God

What now is the way for us to come to know God? Thomas, one of the original disciples, asked Jesus this question saying, “Lord… how can we know the way?” The Lord Jesus didn’t respond by giving him a list of things that he must do in order to know God. Instead He said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:5–6). God has given us a way to come to know Him, and that way is Jesus Christ.

The way to life, to knowing God, is through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ we, in our sinful condition, are hopelessly separated from God and are thus without hope of truly knowing God. But through a relationship with Jesus Christ, we “who once were far off have been brought near” to God (Ephesians 2:13). This is wonderful! Let us take this to heart and know that Jesus Christ is the One who has, at a great cost to Himself, brought us who believe in Him near to God.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:13

Someone might then ask, who is God? What does He expect of me? Instead of leaving us to speculate on these things and come up with our own thoughts and, ultimately, entire religions, God has given us His written Word, through which we may truly come to know Him. He doesn’t care for our assumptions and conclusions — God is who He is regardless of what our own thoughts might be. He doesn’t want us to form our own theories, but instead invites us to come to know Him. And for that He has given us His written Word, the Bible.

His Word Brings Us Into a Deeper Relationship With Himself

The ultimate purpose of His Word is to lead us into a deeper relationship with Him. Many people make the mistake of studying the Bible as if it were a textbook or encyclopedia. They study the historical events and fill their minds with facts about the Bible, but after all of the time they spent reading the Bible their hearts are no closer to God. 

Jesus often addressed the religious people of the time. In one such address He said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40). The Pharisees whom He was speaking to were searching through the Scriptures, but the point of the Scripture is to lead us to Jesus Christ, and they were not coming to Him. They were reading the Scriptures but were completely missing the point of them, and so it was no profit to them. The Scriptures speak of Jesus, and their purpose is to lead us to Jesus, that we may have life. One can set out to read the entire Bible and to learn every historical detail in the text, but if the reading doesn’t lead them to humbly come to Jesus Christ then it will be of no profit to them. 

His Word Feeds and Sustains Us

Imagine that there is a group of starving children sitting around the table. While the children are sitting around the table someone walks in with a large platter of food and places it in front of them. We’d think it terribly strange if the children, instead of eating the food, spent all of their time commenting on the texture, color, and shape of the food. The food was to be eaten and enjoyed. It was intended to be something that would satisfy this hunger within them. But instead of eating the food they simply spent their time analyzing it.

We might think this example is quite strange but how often do we do exactly that when it comes to reading the Bible. God intended for His Word to be food for us, something that would satisfy the depths of our being. In the gospel of John the Lord Jesus said “… I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst... As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me” (John 6:35, 57). His written Word is to reveal Christ to us. And Christ is to become to us our food, the very thing that keeps us alive and sustains us.

Where to Start

Before starting to read the Bible it is a good practice to open our heart to the Lord, and pray and ask Him to reveal Himself to us in His Word. Psalm 119:18 says “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law”. We can pray this as well, that God would open our eyes to see wonderful things in His Word. When we come to God with this desire we can take heart because we know that God desires to reveal Himself to us. Many times though, He is waiting for us to open our hearts to Him. This is why Jesus said “seek and you will find”. God wants to be found by us, and that is why Jesus was encouraging His disciples to seek Him.

When you’re reading the Bible if there is a verse that sticks out to you then linger there for a while. Read and reread the verse. Enjoy the wonderful promises and realities therein. Let it sink into your heart. 

It is also good to intentionally set aside time to read the Bible. It isn’t right for us to plan out all of our daily obligations, and then only give the scraps of what remains to God. As you would plan around a dentist appointment or a meeting with your boss, think of it as having an appointment with the Lord Jesus. Guard the time from distractions and meet Jesus in His Word.

A Warning

When we’re reading the Bible it is important for us to have an open heart towards God and ask Him to speak. We shouldn’t come to the Bible with our set of ideas and try to conform the Word of God to match them. Rather we should come with a heart to know God for who He is. Don’t try and validate what you want to be true, but instead let God reveal the reality of who He is to you. The reality of who God is will surely be greater than anything else that is conceived of by man.

Part of this includes being open to all of what God has revealed of Himself to us. We don’t have the right to go to the written Word of God like we would to a buffet, where we choose only the things that we like and ignore the rest. If we truly desire to know God then we must know Him for who He is. We don’t get to cut God’s truth into pieces and only take the pieces that match our desires and preferences. If I say that God is love but do not also recognize that He is just and righteous, and one who can have no part in sin, then I make a great mistake. I am separating the different aspects of who God is and actually fashioning for myself a god of my own understanding.

"But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares Yahweh.

Jeremiah 9:24

In order to guard ourselves from only focusing on the aspects of God that we like the most it is a good practice to take a book of the Bible and read through it chapter by chapter. With this approach we can get a more holistic picture of who God is. If you’re new to reading the Bible we think a good book to start with is the gospel of John.

A Parting Word

We pray that God would open up the depths of who He is to you as you spend time reading His Word. We also pray that you might have a heart that earnestly longs to know the living God, for such a seeking heart will surely find Him. 

As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Psalm 42:1-2