What Should I Read?
>> Friday, August 22, 2008
Eldredge discusses on pages 41-42 an approach to the scriptures that many people take without intimacy. People may come away from time in the Word as frustrated because they got little out of it or even gaining intellectual undestanding, but missing communication with God. Have you ever experienced this in your life?
He then talks about asking God "What would you have me read today?" How does this sound to you? Have you ever tried this? If so, please give a brief testimony on how this approach worked (or didn't work) for you.
3 comments:
This section spoke directly to me. I have been struggling with what to read in my bible. I haven't actually read my bible for awhile now, so getting back into it has been a struggle. I think I use the excuse "I just don't know where to start" to continue to postpone getting in the word.
I actually tried asking God where I should read and I really feel like he spoke clearly to me. I'm still unsure about how the vereses he gave me will creep up later, but I did hear him speak to me.
On example from a few years back was when I went on a 6 day quest after God. It was an amazing experience but one thing that truely amazed me was how clearly God spoke to me. My leader told me to ask God for a book of the bible. He gave me Psalm. Then I asked for a chapter and he gave me chapter 25. Next I asked for a verse and he gave me verse 13. After I read the verse I still wasn't sure if I had heard God. My leader told me to read the verse above it. Verse 12 reads "Who are those who fear the Lord? He will show them the path they should choose." This spoke directly to my heart because I had just made a decision to follow Jesus. The next day our daily devotion focused on this verse. I still get chills whenever I think of this experience because it was such an intimate moment with God.
This section was extremely helpful to me. I can't count how many times I have read the Word and felt disconnected. I have tried many times to use a daily walk Bible, letting it guide what I read, but it felt "informational" at times and I often felt frustrated that I wasn't getting very deep. I have tried asking God to show me in the past, and did hear from Him, but often felt like I wasn't doing it the right way because it wasn't a methodical study over several days or weeks.
This is a big relief for me, that I can just open the Bible and He can tell me where to go. I really like Julie's description of how she asked God where to read: What book, what chapter, what verse...
The most recent time I have turned to God to show me where to read, He opened a goldmine for me! I needed direction from Him in preparing for an upcoming discussion. When looking for a specific topic in the past, I would look in the back of the Bible and flounder around, wasting time and becoming frustrated. This time He took me to a chapter that spoke to me personally and was excactly what I needed from Him!
This is new for me....I have never tried this. I am anxious to.
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