After a long week, a hard day, or an unvictorious season in life, most of us have found ourselves sitting at the Google search engine with half a million results for “Bible verses about __.” It would be really nice if it worked that way…but it just doesn’t.
A lot of us tend to read our Bibles as if it were about us. As if, on every page, we were supposed to find a moral to each story that would relate to us and give us the answers we need. I so wish the Bible was about me, but it’s not. The Bible is about God, so we should read it that way.
For a generation that prides itself in keeping emotions separated from our decisions, our emotions are what often drives our reading of the Bible. In Jen Wilkin’s Women of the Word, she says, “The first thing I got backwards seems so obviously backwards that it’s embarrassing to admit: I failed to understand that the Bible is a book about God. The Bible is a book that that boldly and clearly reveals who God is on every page…from beginning to end, the Bible is a book about God” (pg 23).
We approach the Bible, often, in search of answers to questions about ourselves. We find comfort in that we found that we are God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), who He crafted in our mother’s wombs, fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139).
However, in these wonderful things, we forget that this book tells us about God’s character and a story of His redemption that leads to our salvation. Even in the books that seem like they have nothing to do with us, God is depicted on every page. Leviticus 19:14 says, “Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.” This may be common sense, but if we’re actively looking for what this says about God, it’s seen that He cares for all of His children, and expects us to treat everyone with the same love and care He does.
Some of the most well-known often get taken out of context because we aren’t reading the Bible holistically, keeping God in mind as the main character. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. But, what if two football teams are praying this verse? Who wins the game? Why is it that we leave out Paul writing that he can endure suffering and hunger in every situation (Phil. 4:12)?
Next time, when you find yourself cracking your Bible open, maybe try reading it more along the lines of what it says about God and not what you think it says about you.
Grace Gaines