Part of the art of reading the Bible is realizing that not every part of the Bible is the same. This sounds obvious, but I think it bears repeating. Sometimes, people can think the Bible is rather like a giant collection of fortune cookies -- no matter where you open it up, it's all going to say basically the same thing. (This mistaken idea leads, first, to the notion that the Bible is very boring. It also seems to be where we get the rather curious practice of closing one's eyes, opening the Bible, putting your finger down on the page, and taking whatever verse your finger happens to land on as a direct message from the Almighty. After all, if it's all basically saying the same thing, then it shouldn't matter whether you put your finger down in Leviticus, Matthew, or Revelation.)
But this is not the case at all.
The Bible, as a whole, points and guides us towards life with God, living with God, a relationship with God. But since different people come to their relationships with God from many different places and experiences, we shouldn't expect a "one size fits all" text.
Because God is not a "one size fits all" God. God does not force each of us into the same mold, no matter what. God is not interested in making robots out of us. God comes to us where we are, as we are. (Now, this does not stop some people from wanting a "one size fits all" Bible or a "one size fits all" God. Such a God would be much easier to understand and even control or predict. But God is much larger than that.)
There are texts in the Bible for people who have just received great news; there are also passages for people who have just received crushing news. There are texts for people who are just beginning their lives of faith; there are also passages for people who have been walking the journey of faith for a long time. There is a whole book of the Bible for people who have become cynical about life (I'll be blogging about this one soon); there are also books for people whose lives have basically fallen apart. There are texts for people who are raging with anger; there are texts for people who are joyful and serene. There are texts about people who are powerful; there are texts about people who are powerless.
The Bible is a wonderful, rich, complicated collection of books and texts, because life is wonderful, rich, and complicated. Part of the art of reading the Bible is coming to know the various and different parts of the Bible, so that you can draw upon texts that are appropriate for a given situation. This will never keep the Bible from being able to surprise you -- God's Word is endlessly surprising as it rearranges our priorities -- but it will help you to hear the Word in all of its wonderful, rich, complicated fullness.
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