I was talking to a friend the other day, a fellow book collector and lover of words, when they made a very simple but astute observation. "Reading the Bible is different from reading other books."
Yes it is. Most books we read for the concepts that provoke our thought or the entertainment value of entering this or that world or situation. We learn from our reading of books, or at least, they give us so many more tools on for interpreting the world. None of that means that we use those tools very well but atleast they make us familiar with more tools when we are ready to use them.
But the Bible is different. We read it and there is this sense that as we do, it is reading us. There is a mind behind its words that won't keep its distance like the words in other books. The words I read in other books sit on the page at a distance from my conscience but the words of the Bible probe my conscience. There is a Mind that wields them and probes the soft underbelly of my motivations and actions. And that is my/our greatest hope.
God, through his word, draws near to us. Like a friend who will not give up on our potential, God woos and calls to us. Every page echos the words of Jesus, "I am with you, even to the end of the age." (Mt. 28:20) And for that reason, every word is a word of hope to the heart that desires the will and presence of God. Today, as the Bible reads your heart, rejoice that God is not finished with you and that God and his word and his presence will go with you to even to the end of the age to equip you for every challenge you face.
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