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God’s Subtle Work in Your Bible Reading

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Erik Raymond reflects briefly yet gloriously on “God’s Subtle Work in Your Bible Reading.” With a personal anecdote, he models how important Bible reading is, even when it doesn’t rock your world every day. The persistent work of God over time is worth the effort we put in.

Here is a taste:

Here’s the thing: God uses your regular exposure to the Word of God to mold you into the image of his Son. Your faithful reading of and meditation upon the Bible makes grooves. And the wheels of your life ride along in these tracks. You might think, What’s the big deal if I don’t read my Bible and pray today? The big deal is this, you are missing out. You are missing out on being exposed to the gloriously infinite treasure of the Scripture. And you are missing out on the privilege of God pressing down the mortar of his Word into your life with all of the force of your current circumstances and emotions. You are missing out on the supernatural compound effect of Bible reading in sanctification.

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5 Benefits to Reading Entire Books of the Bible in One Sitting

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Crossway recently posted 5 benefits to reading entire books of the Bible in one sitting:

  1. You’ll gain unique perspective.
  2. You’ll let Scripture speak for itself.
  3. You’ll read like a writer.
  4. You’ll read more.
  5. You’ll broaden your understanding.

Under that first point, they explain, “By taking in a larger swath of Scripture uninterrupted, you can more easily see themes or patterns in the writing, the narrative’s flow, and the context of each verse. Reading this way can be likened to getting an aerial perspective on a city as compared to your viewpoint from a single address on the map.”

Have you experienced such benefits? Have you ever tried reading the Bible at length? Crossway offers some welcome motivation.

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The Twist in the Sermon on the Mount You Probably Missed

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In “The Twist in the Sermon on the Mount You Probably Missed,” Mark Ward shows how to observe connector words, how to ask interpretive questions, and how to follow the author’s train of thought. His study leads into rich application dealing with anger and reconciliation. This is great Bible study.

I’m about to make the greatest understatement of all time: Jesus is brilliant. By focusing my attention on my own sins, he not only helps me defuse others’ anger against me, he also defuses my anger against others. It is in remembering that I am a sinner, and a sometimes mean one, that I can have pity on others. It is in remembering that I am a forgiven sinner that I can find the strength to forgive other sinners—just like the parable of the unforgiving servant.

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Understanding the Story of Joseph in Genesis

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Samuel Emadi wrote a piece on the story of Joseph in Genesis 37-50. Sometimes we read that story and zero in on a few ideas about innocent suffering or the sovereignty of God. But Emadi does a great job examining the full narrative and following its train of thought.

Moses gives Joseph more time in Genesis than he does any other character—a striking fact given the significance of Genesis’s other main characters: Adam, Noah, and the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This prominence is even more striking considering the apparent insignificance of Joseph in the rest of Scripture.

What then do we make of the Joseph story? Why is it so prominent in Genesis?

Many Christians fail to notice how Joseph’s story contributes to the Genesis narrative and to redemptive history in general. Within Reformed circles, preachers often use Joseph merely to illustrate how divine sovereignty and human responsibility intersect, focusing almost exclusively on Genesis 50:20: “What you meant for evil God meant for good.” Certainly, we are meant to read Joseph’s life in light of this verse. God’s sovereignty is a major theme in Genesis 37–50, and Joseph himself intends for us to interpret his life in light of God’s providence (cf. Gen. 45:1–9).

But reducing the story to an illustration for the doctrine of compatibilism misses the rich contribution Joseph’s life makes to the storyline of Scripture. God’s sovereignty figures largely in the Joseph story because God wants us to see how he puts himself in impossible situations and yet finds a way to keep his covenant promises. Joseph highlights how God’s providence secures God’s promises.

In this light, we can see how Joseph uniquely contributes to Scripture’s opening book.

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Responses to Difficult Questions for Exodus

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I’ve really enjoyed letting you into my study as I work through Exodus. I’ve focused on the main ideas of each passage, and I’m always trying to keep the big picture in front of me.

But there’s also a time for digging into the details and asking all the hard questions. Such as:

  • Why does God harden Pharaoh’s heart?
  • Why can we trust Exodus as history?
  • Did God expect Israel to obey all those laws?
  • What was manna?
  • Can we recognize any symbolism in the tabernacle?

The guys at the Bible Project do more than make really great videos. They also have a podcast where they expand on the stuff in their videos. They have two podcast episodes (also available as YouTube videos), where they answer difficult questions about the book of Exodus. They’re great students of the Bible. They observe, interpret, and apply with much skill. If you’d like to understand Exodus further, you would do well to listen to their discussion of it.

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The Real Reason We Don’t Read Our Bibles

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I’ve heard many reasons why people struggle to read their Bibles. My co-blogger Ryan has written about many of them:

Of course, in our most lucid moments, we’ll acknowledge these reasons are lame. But they continue to ensnare us on almost a daily basis.

So I appreciated Brandon Smith’s recent article, “The Real Reason We Don’t Read Our Bibles.” Smith suggests that the underlying excuse behind all the other excuses is that we forget that God’s word is living and active. That the living God is still speaking to us today and meeting with us in the pages of his word.

Want to know what God thinks? Not just what he thought, but what he thinks? Open your Bible. The Spirit lives within you to help you understand God’s will and character, to help you taste and see something fresh and new that you’ve never seen before. A passage you read five years ago might speak to you differently today, because the living God speaks to you through his living Word, right here and right now.

If only this truth would get under our skin, the rest of our excuses might evaporate into the vaporous void of nothingness they are.

Smith gets this just right. Check it out!