Posted by: David Carroll
I know I've made this point before in this series about "Hearing God" but I
need to revisit it again because it is so important and fundamental. Everything
we know about Jesus comes from the Bible. Most everything we know about the Holy
Spirit comes from the Bible. I say most because someone never having heard God's
word could still know his conscience is tugging him away from sin and that
certainly would be the Holy Spirit. Most everything we know about God comes from
the Bible. Again I say most because we can know His creative power by looking
around us.
Romans 1:20 (NKJV)
For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse,
So the reason I want to revisit this subject of Hearing God through the
scripture is because the written Word is central to knowing God and knowing
what He wants of us. Eagerly studying the word of God naturally and
practically leads a person to knowing Christ and wanting to be like Him.
I've seen the antithesis of this too, even in my own life. Disregarding the
daily use of the Bible leads a person away from Christ. I can readily think
of a number of individual people who, when I am around them, naturally draw
me to Christ. Thinking about why this is so, I can easily point to the fact
that they themselves are saturated in God's word, both devotionally and in
their conversation. So, it is self-evident that God's word is vital to a
close relationship with God.
Dallas Willard recommends reading the Bible with a submissive attitude.
He says:
Study as intelligently as possible, with all available means, but
never study merely to find the truth and especially not just to prove
something. Subordinate your desire to find the truth to your desire to
do it, to act it out!
That's the "how" part but regarding what to read, I know have used a "One
Year Bible Reading Plan" before but I know I read much of it without
absorbing it. On the other hand, I have struggled with the idea of just
beginning to read whatever text my finger happens to open to. It's all good,
right? Well, Willard has more good advice about "what" to read too.
We should begin with those parts of Scripture with which we have
some familiarity, such as Psalm 23, the Lord's Prayer, the Sermon on the
Mount, 1 Corinthians 13, or Romans 8.
Do not try to read a great deal at once...It is better in one year
to have ten good verses transferred into the substance of our lives than
to have every word of the Bible flash before our eyes...Do not hurry. Do
not dabble in spiritual things.
The goal is for the truth of God's word to become part of us. That is to
say, we need to assimilate the truth and to agree with it. Agreeing with the
truth that we know well and can easily repeat is what it means to have the
"mind of Christ." Willard gives five progressive steps as a process of
attaining this goal when dealing with God's word:
- information
- longing for it to be so
- affirmation that it must be so
- invocation to God to make it so
- appropriation by God's grace that it is so
Such use of God's word is a discipline. Ingrained habit and self-control
are the keys behind such discipline. Everyday, devote yourself to this kind
of exercise an you will find yourself being drawn close to God. Close enough
to Hear from God.