Bible Secrets?

We often hear stories of people reflecting back on their lives and rehashing the choices they made along the way.  For some reason, and maybe this is just my perception, most of those wanderings down memory lane place greater emphasis on the “woulda coulda shoulda” decisions.  Hindsight is 20/20. “If only I knew then what I know now.”  Less common are the, “Wow, I can’t believe I got that right” testimonials.  Do we forget those because they caused less stress/trauma than the “woulda coulda shoulda”s?  

I’ve got my share of those.  For example, I regret throwing the baseball through our neighbour’s window (it was accidental, in heat of a street baseball game).  I regret crunching the fender of dad’s car into the bumper of a pickup truck in the church parking lot.  I regret trying to portage a canoe through a thick bramble of stinging nettles while wearing shorts and a tee shirt.  Of course I have others but I’m not about to confess to them here!

One of the life decisions I do not regret is my choice for ministry preparation.  It was at London Baptist Bible College that I learnt two important things:  first, that I was really, really, really in love with a beautiful student named Sharon and I better marry her before someone else gets that idea, and second, that the Word of God is a beautiful, artistic work of literature.  

When I started at LBBC I was eager to know the “secrets” of the Bible, to weaponize it, to win arguments, and to prove to the world that “we” were right and “they” were wrong.  I wanted to create the ultimate life-guide, the formula for godliness that would virtually guarantee a blessed life (and, by implication, help identify those who were sinning because their lives weren’t so “blessed.”).  Thankfully, the day I started classes there was also the day this kind of foolishness was wrung out of me.  I began to learn about grace (it’s an amazing concept - I highly recommend you check it out!).

The number one factor in my transformation was the relationship with and teaching of the faculty.  A very close second, though, was the process of learning that the Word of God was not a dictionary of theology, a moral code book, or a collection of secret spiritual “recipes” for evoking the power or blessing of God.  I was confused about this because I heard so many sermons about “7 Ways to Pray Powerfully” or similar type topics.  I listened to messages and thought, “Where did he get that from?  How does he know that means that?”  In my confusion I concluded there must be insider information for understanding the Bible - secrets I would undoubtedly unlock in my studies.

If there are secrets to understanding the Bible, they would be these: (1) the Bible was not written TO us;  it was written to another group of people who were living in another time and place . . . but it is written FOR us; (2)  it is literature and carries all the attributes of that artistic craft, and (3) there are no hidden codes or messages that we have to decipher.

In the course of study I learnt that God so loves His image-bearers that He, through the Holy Spirit, guided the authors of Scripture to carefully document the history of God’s engagement with His created order.  He did this to be known;  we don’t have to guess who God is or what He is like.  We don’t need to make a god in our image.  

There is much we share with those original recipients:  the human condition, our need for God, etc.  Part of our task now is to enter into their context and do our best to see the Scriptures from their perspective. 

“Yeah, that’s good for you, Graham” I can hear you saying.  “You had the time to study and learn.  What about the rest of us?”  I’m so glad you asked.  With a little awareness - maybe rethinking about what the Bible is, all of us can sharpen our skills to enjoy and engage with God.  Here are some simple steps to take:

1.   Read the Bible recognizing the diverse types of styles (stories, poems, etc.) and ignoring the chapter and verse numbers (they were added just a few hundred years ago).  Read it in big chunks, not just a line at a time.
2.  Don’t focus on finding “life-hacks;”  look for the loving hand of God.  The priority of this Book is to know Him.
3.  Ask the question, “What did this mean for the original audience?” followed by, “What do I have in common with them, and what is distinct from them?”
4.  Build a toolkit of resources.  Here are two websites that provide reliable insights and background to the Bible:  bible.org and gotquestions.org.  Even wikipedia can give insight to understanding types of poetry or other literary features.

I know there are sections of the Bible that are labourious.  It’s OK to move on from “x” beget “y” and died.  Or, the long, technical details of sewing garments for the priests of the Old Testament.  These are worthy of study in their own context.  They can also distract us from other, equally important texts.  For the purposes of learning to love to read the Bible, focus on the stories and poems, commentaries on life (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes), and more familiar content of the New Testament.  Just read it, enjoy it, and see the hand of God at work.  Learn from the “woulda could shoulda” experiences of those who have gone before!