The Bible is our guide

The Bible in my life

As I was saying, my walk with the Bible was never a good one. I have always been reluctant to spend time reading the Word and would rather have my leisure than invest time with the Bible.

Without a doubt, the consequences of this in my life were not good. If I had spent more time with the Word of the Lord, when I was younger, today I could have a better understanding of who God is, who I am in Him and many other things, such as my calling.

I learned in the most painful way how the lack of Bible reading damages our lives. I could have avoided mistakes like trusting myself and wanting to take control of my life. God’s Word itself brings us that kind of teaching. In Psalm 37: 5, the psalmist teaches us to commit our way to the Lord and trust Him.

I was uncomfortable with this situation of not being able to feed on the Word. I really wanted to have a reading routine and enjoy reading the Bible. However, I could not understand that it was enough for me to do 3 things:

1. Asking for Hunger and Thirst

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:”

Amos 8:11

Not only in the Old Testament, but also in the New, we have several passages that tell us about being hungry and thirsty for the Lord. However, focus on this passage from Amos specifically, as it talks about having hunger and thirst “to hear the words of the Lord”.

We know that the Bible is the Word of the Lord. Therefore, if the prophet tells us that days of hunger and thirst for the Lord’s words will come on earth, we must ask for it! For ourselves, we will never feel like reading the Bible, because we are in the flesh and our flesh does not want what pleases God!

We need to cling to what pleases the Lord. So that, more and more, we will want to seek more and meet more with our God.

2. Asking for Understanding

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Proverbs 9:10

From the moment we are hungry and thirsty for the Lord, we begin to understand better who He is and we fear Him. However, even so we will have difficulties to understand many things that the Lord speaks to us, through His Word. For that, we need to ask for understanding and revelation of the Word, so that we can understand what He is trying to tell us.

3. Simply read

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

Joshua 1:8

I always had the habit of waiting for the best situation or waiting for the will to start reading the Bible, and that was a big mistake of mine! As we said before, we need to get up and act, because the will to do what pleases the Lord will not come. Our hearts are evil and sinful. So just start reading the Bible and you will not regret it.

Have a nice reading! Grace and Peace!