Delighting in God's Word: A Lesson from Psalm 1, Part I

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish." Psalm 1

In an age where more translations of the Bible and more Bible study helps are available than at any other time in history, how do we explain the fact that most Christians struggle intensely to read the Bible? Although recent data shows that Bible reading has climbed to 50% among Millennials and Gen Z, other studies show that as many as one-third of Christians never open their Bibles at all. Concluding that people just don't want to read the Bible isn't necessarily true, for I could quote any number of people I know and love who have told me recently that they don't study the Bible as much as they should. Inside that admission is an expression of longing for that intimacy with the Lord that alone makes life bearable. Certainly not all, but many people do want to read their Bibles, especially as times grow worse and worse and as listening to world news makes us feel as if we are sitting in a canoe headed for Niagara Falls. People do want to know what's going on. Concluding that people are just too busy doesn't truly account for lack of Bible reading, either, because we are all experts at finding time to do the things we really want to do.

The most obvious reason more Christians don't read their Bibles could be the widespread misgiving that reading the Bible is too hard. After all, why else are there so many books out there to show us how if we can do this on our own? But has this glut of materials made it any easier? Or has it presented the new difficulty of finding the right materials, giving the sensation that we must maneuver our way through an intricate maze before ever opening God's Word on our own? Not only are most people not going to bother; many people are facing the doublethink that something that is now supposed to be easy isn't that important. Our minds are complex mysteries, and when the challenge is removed, so is the thrill of the hunt. We actually need somebody to tell us that studying the Bible is supposed to be hard. We also need somebody to tell us that all these "helps" might not really help that much. Some might not even help at all.

Why is that? First of all, not even the finest Bible study helps are inspired by the Holy Spirit. And all of them risk frustrating the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding us into all truth. That is by no means to say that any Scripture is of private interpretation. But look around at the church in general today and conclude that big-name celebrities have many times actually stood in the way of the truth rather than leading us to it. And the more the "megachurch" becomes popular, the more "groupthink" and indoctrination take over. This popular mindset has not only infiltrated almost everything; it has infected many Bible study helps with unbiblical bias from strange doctrines that now feel "mainstream." In short, the motives behind many so-called Bible study helps may very well be nefarious rather than noble.

This is especially true when these Bible study helps tamper with the Bible itself, as the RLC movement does. This Red Letter Christian movement sees only the words of Jesus (in red) as authentic, having set aside not only the Old Testament but the writings of the Apostle Paul. Go figure. The Passion Bible has dished up the New Apostolic Reformation's version of God's Word as promoted by Brian Simmons, who has dubbed himself an "apostle." Just today, I returned an otherwise beautiful prayer journal where these influences had been smuggled in. (Interestingly enough, I also discovered when I looked at my receipt that I had been overcharged. The price tag on the journal evidently had not matched the price on the barcode. Fishy, eh?) Clearly, before we purchase any type of devotional aid, we need to research the source because the devotional market is surrounded on every side by the publications of false teachers and frauds. And those that do not outright tamper with the text of God's Word itself all too often obfuscate the plain sense of the Word or take it out of context. "Oh, you think this text means . . . but what it really means isn't that at all . . . " and on and on we go, doubting our own ability to read.

But even the best study Bibles and aids can do more harm than good if we do not use them wisely, especially if they betray an unchallenged doctrinal bias that shuts down honest thinking. Think about it: if a panel of godly, trained scholars from various Biblically sound denominations is called upon to write a new translation of God's Word such as the ESV without bias, why would we put that denominational bias back into God's Word in the study notes? Aren't big-name Bible scholars getting in the way of the Holy Spirit when they do this? "I am of Paul; I am of Apollos." Are any of us simply "of Jesus Christ"? When we read the notes at the bottom before allowing the Lord Himself to show us what is happening in the text, we are getting at best only a secondhand experience of God's Word. This assumption that we need someone else "better trained" to help us open God's Word has not only gotten out of hand; it perpetuates a mindset not found in God's Word itself. Without in any way setting aside the role of gifted pastors and teachers, we should be reminded that the Apostle Paul challenged all believers to desire the gift of prophecy, which is the gift of understanding and teaching God's Word. This is our responsibility as members of the body of Christ.

All of this leaves us with two facts: studying the Bible is hard, and studying the Bible is supposed to be hard. There is no getting around it. Trying to find shortcuts only makes it even harder in the long run because these run the risk of bypassing the Holy Spirit who authored the text and who promised to guide us into all truth. As revolutionary as this sounds, it shouldn't. When the Bible itself was finally placed in the hands of the common people, thanks to those heroic translators who risked their lives, the Bible itself was considered the greatest help to the spiritual life that anyone could imagine. And this all-but-forgotten fact must be coupled with the wonderful truth that the Lord Himself has taught us a way to read His Word.

When Jesus said to the Pharisees--a group of "spiritual gurus" hardened by the many layers of their own tradition--"Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39), He gave us three study tips in this single sentence: a method, a scope, and a focus. The method is simple: search. We need to arm ourselves with the following: a reliable translation rather than a paraphrase; a concordance; a good Bible dictionary; access to Hebrew and Greek; a journal; and our favorite writing utensil. Notice that these study tools don't come with bias and baggage. The scope is also simple: the Scriptures. As few as five percent of all Christians have read the Bible from cover to cover even once in their lives, but all of God's Word is here sanctified by Jesus because the Old Testament is all His hearers had at that moment and the New was being spoken before them. To create a false dichotomy between the words of Jesus and any of the rest of the Bible is a lie. Proverbs tells us that "every word of God is pure" (Proverbs 30:5), and Paul tells Timothy that all Scripture is God-breathed (II Timothy 3:16).

The focus is clearly Jesus Himself, Who began "at Moses" when He expounded the Scriptures to those dejected disciples on Easter evening along the Emmaus Road. But we will not find the fullness of this focus unless we search the entire scope of God's Word. And yet, as massive as this task is, Jesus hasn't burdened us with a mountain of extrabiblical books to "help us" when studying His Word. He has given us His Holy Spirit, but He has also kept studying God's Word simple--although not easy--by unleashing us to our own productive struggle. Yes, that's right. Productive struggle is simple because there's only one way out: finding the answer. The process of true Bible study looks like this: read God's Word, but don't just read it; search it. And when you search, know what you have found: yet more testimony of "Me"--not just testimony about "Me" but testimony of "Me." Every word is His. And it is to this truth about Jesus that the Holy Spirit will witness, for "He shall teach you all things" (John 14:26). As the Lord Himself guides the one who wants to know Him through His Word, He teaches us just as He taught His disciples on earth: inductively.

What we need most, I firmly believe, is not more products to explain the Bible; we need the process the Lord has given us to help us to read effectively. When we allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify this process--for it is the way in which our Creator created our minds to think and our eyes to read--we will have access to God's Word that is not only fresh and firsthand; it will be far superior to anything we can buy. "Buy the truth, and sell it not," Proverbs 23:23 commands. How do we do that? Read, yes, but how? Just as anyone in the classroom can become a stronger reader by applying reading strategies, so we ourselves can approach God's Word armed with several simple but very effective reading strategies. Below is a list which was published in the Elements of Literature series from which I have taught for many years. It really isn't anything new; our brains know to do this when we give them a chance--when we really search the Scriptures and take time to meditate on God's Word as Psalm 1 tells us to do:

• Determining the main idea

• Rereading

• Reading for detail

• Questioning the text

• Making inferences

• Making connections

• Using chronology

• Determining cause and effect

• Making predictions

• Comparing and contrasting

• Making generalizations

• Summarizing

• Evaluating

These strategies follow a natural order but are also recursive, spiraling and looping endlessly. But strategies unsanctified by a listening ear and an obedient heart will only make us smarter, not more godly. We read not merely to know but to obey: to walk "not" in all the ways of our rapidly deteriorating world--in the counsel of the ungodly. When we approach God's Word as the Psalmist of Psalm 1 did, delighting in the law of the Lord and meditating in it day and night, we will not only be blessed beyond measure; everything we do will prosper. The "secret sauce" is secret time alone with the Lord--every single day. We will know that we have an appointment every morning with the King and that He wants to speak to us--to little you and to little me--directly from His Holy Word! It is indeed possible to open our Bible and to understand what it is saying.

It is not only possible; it is critical. Our culture has been battered about with every wind of false doctrine long enough, as influenced by spiritual wickedness in high places. The sole reason is that we have not armed ourselves with God's Word. Oswald Chambers often said that the Holy Spirit will not do for us what we must do for ourselves. There is the forgotten factor of an obedient will in following our Lord--a factor now famously abused on all sides as "word of faith" on one hand or as "works salvation" on the other. But these extremes of sensationalism or legalism will lead us into the ditch. So will many a popular "Bible" teacher today. It is not that using commentaries of the great men of the past is wrong or inappropriate. It is that the day of the Christian celebrity is over. We have seen one after another go down, and it is high time true Christianity rose up again out of a grassroots movement. If we are going to know God's Word, we must read it and study it ourselves. With the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the perspiration of a surrendered will, a disciplined mind, and a hungering heart, we will find the gold of which David spoke in Psalm 19: 10-11, "More to be desired are they [the judgments of the Lord] than gold."