Opening God’s Word and reading it is an awesome privilege, isn’t
it? It opens with the story of Creation, the Fall, and God’s promise of a
Rescuer to deliver man and woman from the sin and its consequences in which
they had entangled themselves. The rest of the Old Testament foreshadows that
rescue, little by little giving more details about the Rescuer and showing the depravity
of men who need the rescue and the mercy of God who loves His people and repeatedly
calls them back to Himself though they sin. Of course, the New Testament opens with
the drama of the birth, life, death and resurrection of the Rescuer, and then
beautifully unfolds what this salvation means for those of us who follow this
Savior. God’s Words to us end with the promise of a new world to come for those
who have eyes to see.
So why is it that sometimes when we open our Bibles to read, we
feel nothing? How is it that we are not moved and awed every time we come to
God’s Word? Can I be even more bold and use the word apathy? Have you ever been
there? More times than I care to admit, I have opened my bible only out of a
sense of duty, knowing it was important, but really feeling no desire to read.
So, when this happens, what do we do? I think my thought
previously was that I just press on. I keep reading, hoping that one day the
desire and excitement would come back. And surely, we do press on in the sense
that we don’t stop reading. However, I was missing an important part that John
Piper’s book Reading the Bible
Supernaturally recently alerted me to.
Piper speaks of those who came to his office when he served as
pastor, complaining of a lack of desire to read the Word. He would ask them
what they were doing about it, and they would say something like, “It’s not a
matter of doing. It’s a matter of feeling,” as if they couldn’t help it. He writes,
“These folks have not just lost desire for God’s word, but they have lost sight
of the sovereign power of God, who gives that desire.” He points out that in
Psalm 119:36, the psalmist prays, “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and
not to selfish gain.” The author of this psalm understands that his heart has a
tendency to other things (selfish gain) and not to God’s Word, and he is asking
God to change his heart, to change his desires.
When I don’t desire the Word, my desires may be to sleep longer or
to just relax without having to think, or to get busy with my to-do list.
Whatever it is, my desire is not where it should be. I am wanting other things
more than time with God. So my response should not be, “Oh well, I’m just going
to read anyway and hope I get something out of it.” My first response should be
a heartfelt crying out to God to change my desires, to show me my idols, to
realize as Piper writes that “life is war. And the main battles are fought at
the level of desires, not deeds.”
He points to Paul’s admonition to “put to death what is earthly
within you,” which includes wrong desires (Colossians 3:5). It is a battle that
we are not to be passive about; we repent of wrong desires and we plead for God
to give us a desire for His Word. And, if we do have the desire to read, we
thank God and, as Piper writes, we ask Him to “preserve and intensify” that desire
within us.
I don’t know what your feelings are when you open your bible, but
let’s not remain passive in regards to our feelings, thinking we can’t do
anything about them. Let’s realize that God wants us to desire Him and His Word
whole-heartedly, and let’s wage war against lesser passions. For we know that
those passions could never satisfy anyway; only God’s Word can bring the
satisfaction that our souls so desperately need.
God blesses the woman whose “delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on His law [she] meditates day and night. [She] shall be like a tree,
planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf
does not wither” (Psalm 1:2-3). Let’s fight for that delight.
--Amy O’Rear
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