How We Read Our Bibles Pt. 1

Introduction

How many of you have read your Bibles at some point in the last week?

Three or more times?

Every day?

Last week we were honest… the Bible is strange

It is written in a completely different culture and time

Some parts of it we’d rather just avoid

And some parts of it are just difficult to understand

But we also talked about why we still read it

It is timeless

It is real and honest

And it is deep

And I think a lot of us know that we should read our Bibles

But I think for many of us we don’t know how to read our Bibles

Like I said last week:

What are we used to reading?

Text messages

Social media posts

Subtitles

Menus

Maybe a book (?)

The Bible is not like anything we are used to reading

So very practically… how should we read our Bibles?

This week and next week we are going to look at the two most prominent ways that I read my Bible

Meditation and Study

So today we are going to be talking about meditation

Next week we are going to be addressing studying the Bible

And both weeks we are going to be taking questions

And the third week I’ll be answering some of your Bible questions

Meditation

What does it mean to meditate?

We often have mixed responses on ‘meditation’

What does it mean to meditate on the Bible?

Emptying our mind so that it can be filled by God’s word

I think of meditation as chewing on and savoring God’s word

Several key passages talk about the importance of Biblical meditation:

Psalm 1:1–3 (CSB)

How happy is the one who does not

walk in the advice of the wicked

or stand in the pathway with sinners

or sit in the company of mockers!

Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,

and he meditates on it day and night.

He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams

that bears its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

Psalm 119:97–103 (CSB)

How I love your instruction!

It is my meditation all day long.

Your command makes me wiser than my enemies,

for it is always with me.

I have more insight than all my teachers

because your decrees are my meditation.

I understand more than the elders

because I obey your precepts.

I have kept my feet from every evil path

to follow your word.

I have not turned from your judgments,

for you yourself have instructed me.

How sweet your word is to my taste—

sweeter than honey in my mouth.

The Importance of Meditation

Meditation is how we get God’s word into our heart

Listen to Jesus’s words:

Matthew 12:34–35 (CSB)

For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. A good person produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil person produces evil things from his storeroom of evil.

What we think about, what is in our hearts, matters.

Listen to this Proverb:

Proverbs 4:20–23 (CSB)

My son, pay attention to my words;

listen closely to my sayings.

Don’t lose sight of them;

keep them within your heart.

For they are life to those who find them,

and health to one’s whole body.

Guard your heart above all else,

for it is the source of life.

Meditating on God’s word is making room for God’s word in our heart

Think of the story of Joshua

He has huge shoes to fill

He has many wars/battles in his future

He must be prone to be afraid

But God tells him

Joshua 1:8 (CSB)

This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.

Our hearts are filled with so much junk on a daily basis

Thinking about things that don’t really matter

What others think about us

Our grades

Our future plans

Our performance in sports

Our social media feeds

Every day we fill up our hearts with junk

and meditation is a time to empty out all of that and make room for what God has to say to us

So we know that meditation is important, but the harder question is

How Do We Meditate?

Expect to Hear from God

The whole practice is pointless if we aren’t expecting to hear from God

Prepare our hearts…

God what do you want to say to me?

We pray…

Spirit please search my heart and speak to me?

We surrender…

Quiet our Hearts

There is so much noise in our lives

Often when we try to meditate on the Bible distractions come

We think about our to-do list

We think about that stupid thing we said earlier

We think about what’s for dinner tonight

We often have to take some time to quiet our hearts to prepare to hear from God

Ex. Sandy Water

It’s something that can be hard at first

But as we practice we become better at it

Listen

We hear what God’s word has to say

Does anything catch your attention?

Is anything comforting?

Is anything challenging?

I like to re-read/listen and ask these questions:

What does Gods word say?

What does this mean to me?

What do I need to do about this?

Practice

Psalm 138 (NLT)

1 O Lord, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

2 You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

3 You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

4 You know what I am going to say

even before I say it, Lord.

5 You go before me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too great for me to understand!

7 I can never escape from your Spirit!

I can never get away from your presence!

8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;

if I go down to the grave, you are there.

9 If I ride the wings of the morning,

if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

10 even there your hand will guide me,

and your strength will support me.

11 I could ask the darkness to hide me

and the light around me to become night—

12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16 You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

18 I can’t even count them;

they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

you are still with me!

19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!

Get out of my life, you murderers!

20 They blaspheme you;

your enemies misuse your name.

21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?

Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?

22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred,

for your enemies are my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 Point out anything in me that offends you,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Wrap-Up

Share Time

Collect Bible Questions