Inspired

Posted On September 4, 2022

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for showing people what is wrong in their lives, for correcting faults, and for teaching how to live right.”

2 Timothy 3:16 NCV

“There you will look for the Lord your God,
and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him.”

Deuteronomy 4:29 GNT

God promises that if we look for Him with all our heart, we will find Him. But what exactly does that mean? If we’re still full of questions and doubts despite our searching, does it mean we’re missing something? Are we bad Christians? We try to dig in to Scripture, but we often end up with more questions than answers. We go to God with our worries, hoping He’ll speak to us, but we can’t understand what He’s trying to say. Sometimes it seems the harder we try, the more confused we get. Pretty soon, reading the Bible just feels like one more thing we have to check off of our to-do list, and it becomes a chore instead of a delight. If you’ve ever felt this way, you’re not alone. I’ve been there. And I’m not the only one.

“If the book was supposed to explain all the mysteries of life,
why did it leave [me] with so many questions?”

~Rachel Held Evans, Inspired

In her book Inspired, Rachel Held Evans talks about her journey from loving the Bible as a child to questioning it as an adult. Tara-Leigh Cobble, in The Bible Recap, describes how the challenge of trying to understand Scripture left her feeling defeated. And in my own faith journey I have faced similar struggles. Maybe you have, too. If so, take heart. We’re not in this alone. As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit living in us to help us understand what God wants to reveal to us. And we also have the benefit of other Christians.

We are called to be in fellowship with each other so that we can help each other. That’s why I started this blog in the first place. Many others have encouraged me through their words, and I want to share their words with you. But let me begin by saying this: If you think other Christians have it all figured out, and somehow you’re the only one who doesn’t, you’re wrong. None of us have it all figured out. We can’t. If we did, we’d be perfect and God wouldn’t have any work left to do in us. Romans 3:23 reminds us that we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (ESV), and Philippians 1:6 assures us that “God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (NLT). Since Jesus hasn’t returned yet, God still has work to do in all of us. So we can let go of the notion that we are somehow supposed to be good enough for God, and just let Him embrace us as we are — flawed, hurt, questioning, struggling, doubting, needy humans.

“Not only was Scripture challenging to understand, but the challenge also left me with a lack of desire. Every day I felt defeated before I even started, and many days I didn’t start at all.”

~Tara-Leigh Cobble, The Bible Recap

Tara-Leigh Cobble admits that she struggled with reading the Bible until she realized she was making some mistakes that kept her from understanding and loving Scripture. As I read her words, I realized I have made these same mistakes. Maybe you have, too. If so, then I think her advice will help all of us.

She explains that her first mistake was looking for herself instead of looking for God. I have definitely done this. For most of my life, reading the Bible just felt like something I should do to be a “good” Christian. It had the same appeal as going on a diet or starting a new exercise program. I knew it would be good for me, but I didn’t really get excited about it. Lately, it’s become a way for God to speak to me about my problems, my questions, and what’s going on in my life. Notice how many times I just said “me” or “my” . . . Yeah, I’m not proud of that, but it’s the truth. While I’m grateful that God speaks to me about what’s on my mind as I read His Word, I realize I’ve been so focused on what’s going on with me that I forgot what the Bible is all about in the first place:

“Reading the Bible is not a means of self-help or an attempt to earn God’s favor.
It’s an opportunity to behold the beauty of God and be drawn in by Him.”

~Tara-Leigh Cobble, The Bible Recap

“It is He who made the earth by His power,
Who established the world by His wisdom,
And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.”

Jeremiah 51:15 NASB

The Bible is God’s Word, not the how-to-make-my-life-easier handbook. As Tara-Leigh Cobble explains, reading the Bible mainly for selfish reasons leads to two other common mistakes:
(1) Lingering over the same passages of Scripture while ignoring the rest, and
(2) Drawing conclusions about God before reading the whole Bible.

I’ve definitely been there, too. As Cobble remind us, the Bible is not just a list of steps to take and promises to claim. It’s not just a handbook to refer to when we have a problem or need a quick answer. It’s so much more than that. At it’s core, it’s a love story: It’s a story about God and His love for His children. And it’s meant to be read and savored over and over again.

I was humbled, but also inspired, by this realization. Would I really want the Bible to just be a self-help book? How boring is that! We are reading the words of the eternal Creator of the universe. We should expect to be blown away with a sense of awe and wonder when we read His words, and that’s exactly what the Bible delivers. When we dive in and let it speak to us on its own terms, we will often run into things we don’t understand. But that’s okay, because it’s the questions we have that prompt us to dig deeper and uncover layers of truth we never saw before. It’s a process of discovery that’s meant to last a lifetime.

“My journey back to loving the Bible, like most journeys of faith, is a meandering and ongoing one, a story still in draft. And like all pilgrims, I am indebted to those who have gone before me, those saints of holy curiosity whose lives of faithful questioning taught me not to fear my doubts, but to embrace and learn from them.”

~Rachel Held Evans, Inspired

We must not shy away from our questions or doubts. Instead, we should let them prompt us to lean into God and seek Him more. He will reveal more of Himself to us, but we must be patient. He will only show us what we are ready to see. That’s just the way God works. We see this in Scripture, and I’ve found it to be true in my own life as well.

That’s why it’s important to keep reading the Bible. If we read the same passage twenty times, God may use it to speak to us in twenty different ways. God’s Word is amazing that way! We will never run out of things to discover. The key is to relax our grip on our own ideas and desires, and let God speak to us on His own terms. Rather than rushing to find the answers we’re seeking, God encourages us to enjoy the journey.

“Old Testament scholar Peter Enns . . . has encouraged me to approach Scripture with a new set of questions, questions like, ‘What if the Bible is just fine the way it is? . . . Not the well-behaved-everything-is-in-order version we create, but the messy, troubling, weird, and ancient Bible that we actually have?’ These questions loosened my grip on the text and gave me permission to love the Bible for what it is, not what I want it to be.”

~Rachel Held Evans, Inspired

So does having questions and doubts make us bad Christians? Not at all. In fact, it’s part of the process. The main thing is not to give up seeking God. One of the first lessons God taught me when I became serious about pursuing Him is that He values faith more than moral perfection. We can never be perfect on our own, and He doesn’t expect us to be. What He does ask us to do is show up. The main thing God desires is a relationship with us. So every day, no matter how many times we fail, no matter how much we’re hurting, no matter how big of a mess we’re in, He asks us to just show up and seek Him — seek Him in prayer, seek Him in our circumstances, and seek Him in His Word. He will take it from there.

“If all you gain from this is one new insight about God, that insight could change the rest of your life and your relationship with Him. And no matter how your circumstances change, I believe your joy will grow deeper and richer, because you will be spending time with Him — and He is where the joy is!”

~Tara-Leigh Cobble, The Bible Recap

“The joy of God is your strength!”

Nehemiah 8:10 MSG

This week’s Scripture passages remind us that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Some versions use the term “God-breathed”: God breathed His words into the authors of the Bible through the Holy Spirit. And it’s the Holy Spirit who breathes God’s words into us as we seek to understand it. Like any other aspect of faith, we are not meant to do this on our own. We don’t always understand everything in God’s Word because we aren’t meant to. The Holy Spirit will keep revealing God’s truth to us as we become ready to understand it. What He does reveal to us, we are expected to follow. And the main thing He asks of us is to keep seeking Him every day.

“God is still breathing. . . . If you’re curious, you will never leave the text without learning something new. If you’re persistent, you just might leave inspired.”

Rachel Held Evans, Inspired

References:

• Evans, Rachel Held. Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again. Nelson Books, 2018
• Cobble, Tara-Leigh. The Bible Recap: A One-Year Guide to Reading and Understanding the Entire Bible. Bethany House, 2020.

Images:

• Glowing Bible featured image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay
• Sunlit Bible image by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash
• Night Sky image by Denis Degioanni on Unsplash
• Light Shining on Bible Passage image by blenderfan from Pixabay