Bible Reading: Psalm 93
“Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting” (Psalm 93:2).
A lot of the time, we find reading the Bible quite unrelatable to our everyday lives. As a result, we often neglect this spiritual discipline which we know is essential. What are we to do about this?
J.I. Packer’s Knowing God highlights how the Bible is, in fact, related to us in every aspect because the God it speaks about is unchanging.
A common presupposition that we bring when reading the Bible is that it should be a self-help manual that will give us steps to overcome our problems and live happy lives. God’s Word will indeed lead to sanctified holy lives where we can enjoy the true life of fellowship with God. However, God does not only reveal Himself to solve our problems.
If we only seek answers to our problems, we are like those who followed Jesus because He gave them free bread. We seek God’s blessing and not God Himself. God wants us to get to know Him. God wants us to love Him. God wants us to taste the goodness of His glory. This is far more superior than satisfying ourselves with God’s blessings.
Because of this, God’s Word is full of stories and sayings and letters testifying to who God is, made manifest ultimately through Christ on the cross. Christ is the crux of the whole Bible. All the stories in the Old Testament and all the letters in the New Testament point to Christ, where God manifests the unfathomable depths of His wisdom and the unsearchable riches of His grace.
This said, once again, the God of the Bible does not change. The God that was revealed in ages past is still the same God today. The Jesus who is mighty to save still calls those who would return and believe in Him today. The God of Exodus 34:6, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation”, is still the God of today.
As such, we can get to know our God when we read His Word. We can have a relationship with Him because He wants to speak to us through His Word. He is tenderly waiting for you to come to Him. Will you listen to His call?
Lord, thank You that You are the holy yet merciful God. Thank You for the mercy You have given to us so that we can get to know You. Please help us to get to know You even more through Your Word. Give us the burden and desire to long for You. Turn our eyes away from treasuring Your blessings more than You Yourself. Show us little by little Your unsearchable wisdom and grace that we may bring glory to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
