On long, slow, patient, attentive Bible Reading

 I wonder if we are sometimes a little hasty and impatient in reading Scripture.

Maybe we are in a hurry to get through our daily readings, to tick off our devotional. We want to get a blessing and to see the cash value of what we are reading for today. We want something that will make an immediate difference, something which we can do now. And there is good in all this, of course. The Bible is meant to be a light to our path.

If we are preparing to preach or teach, maybe our prep is crammed in and hand to mouth. We want to crunch it down into points, to churn out our applications. We latch on to something that we know will make a message. Maybe we discard the loose ends or are wary of ambiguity or pointless speculation. We must feed the people - but not just fast food or the same two or three standard meals.

Perhaps the Bible often seems strange or puzzling. Or we skip over details. If we're honest, we're very ignorant of the Bible and its world. We can't say our imaginations are shaped by it. Maybe there is symbol and significance we don't really ponder. Many of us, and I include myself in this, are still infants in the reading of the Bible and there is so much to learn.

Reading the Bible is a life long project. Perhaps it is a little daunting, but it's also a wonderful adventure, an inexhaustible feast. And we might get help from the whole church down the ages. We should dare to stray beyond our favourite passages and our inherited outlines of the correct answers. We shouldn't worry if we don't get it all now. We never will.

A more patient, attentive, curious reading might help us to see patterns and connections.

I've been looking at the life of Abraham and the echoes / plays on other Scriptures seem rich. Creation, Fall and Exodus seem to be recalled or transposed. It is not obvious always what to make of these links, but maybe it is worth just seeing them and sitting with them. As part of a life time of prayerful Bible reading, they might form part of the fertile compost in which knowing Jesus can flourish.

Today's Bible reading, whether long or short, leisured or brief, might contribute to all our other readings as we store up treasure, seeing things old and new.

In God's economy, no time spent with the Bible is ever wasted, even if we don't know the fruit right now. We plough on in hope! Happy reading!