The past few days I’ve been taking time to re-read things I’ve written over the past year or so. Well, from December – June, when my copy of Word demanded I enter a registration code that I could never find. I’d started a word file to use to document my thoughts as I read through the Bible from cover to cover. I’m sad that I’ve completely missed two books worth of reflection, and will pick up in Deuteronomy. Maybe I will re-read it again and add more. That would be fantastic, to just have a word document full of ever-growing thoughts on Scripture. This was the introduction. I will post more.
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{The Bible.doc}
It seems reasonable to assume that Genesis is one of the most highly read books of the Bible. When people feel the need to consume the Word of God, they start at the beginning. It also seems reasonable to assume that the beginning is one of the most familiar Bible stories. We have heard numerous times about God forming earth from nothing, creating the sun and moon to rule in the sky and then creating time as a result.
The danger in familiarity is comfort. We tend to think that comfort is good and desirable. Comfort is what allows us to be ourselves and feel cared for. If we are talking about the comfort of a cup of hot chocolate or a cat sleeping on your legs, then yes. However if we are talking about reading the Bible, comfort is unhealthy.
I’ve started at the beginning many times in my life. I would skim through what God created and read through until the story of Noah, and then I’d have a hard time remembering who was whose baby daddy and how they died. So I would stop reading and go back to the New Testament, reading familiar stories of Jesus walking on water or Zaccheus in the tree.
Because I wanted to be comfortable when I read the Bible, I began to only seek out those things that allowed me to remain cozy and content.
So it was shocking when I really started to read the Bible. There were stories that I had to ask my friends if they’d heard. God became unfamiliar, confusing and strange. Reading the Bible has made me the most uncomfortable I have ever been in my entire life. As I read the Bible, I begin to get blisters all over my soul where the things that have been comfortable have turned into pains because there is something not right about them.
That’s not all, though. God has become fascinating, inviting and personable. I’ve become to desire the healthy discomfort of seeing myself in the mirror of the Word.
This is my journey through the Bible.
Oh, I loved this. You’ve inspired me to do the same… or at least something similiar.
Actually, my plan for this coming year is to read through C.H. Spurgeon’s “Morning and Evening” devotional book and read through the Bible (or a good portion of it). Perhaps I’ll incorporate that into doing something like you have been doing.
Thank you for the wonderful Idea. 🙂
~ Heather Joy
Wow, what a great idea! I will have to consider something like this myself.