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Originally Posted by Trapped
Ohio, thanks for your post.
Years ago an elder told me that what I needed was to read the Bible. I balked, saying that I had never gotten much from it.
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Watchman Nee likened this to washing rice. You wash rice, when you pull the sieve out of the water the water runs out. It seems you don't retain any water but the rice gets washed. I found that if I sat and read the Bible for 15 minutes I'd feel better even if I didn't think I had retained anything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trapped
He responded that in that case, I should then consider it like medicine......it may not taste good but you need to take it in to heal your sickness. That was the first time anyone had said anything I could sink my teeth into - his reply contained a level of acknowledgement that the Bible isn't necessarily something easy to take in, rather than crushing me for having the gall to say that I didn't love the thing with every ounce of my being. I could wrap my head around something not being pleasant, but necessary, like medicine. And at the time I was struggling and couldn't deny that I needed some sort of "medicine".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trapped
So I resolved to read the Bible every day for a year. And I did. I didn't want to, but I did. I viewed it like medicine. I didn't want to crack open the pages, but I did. I had been told my whole life in the church to just tell the Lord exactly how you feel, even if it's "I don't want to open to You right now". I wasn't going to spend the year faking piety, so I was just honest every time - "I don't want to be here, but I come to You in Your word", or "Lord, nothing in me wants to read the Bible, but here I am. I am here, this is the best I can do. You have to meet me." Some days it was "I think what I'm reading is so dumb and not helpful at all. He who is weak eats vegetables? Was that really worth putting in there?" I couldn't pretend to be anywhere I wasn't, and the Lord sees right through that anyway.
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This is very strange to me. Why do you have this attitude? I think Ohio must be right, it must be due to what people have taught you.
My attitude was completely different. I grew up in a church where they never talked about the Bible (IMO) and I always thought "I am not here to listen to your opinion about the Vietnam war, I want to know what the Bible says, why can't you just focus on that?"
I used to always go to the library and have the sense that somewhere in this building there is wisdom and knowledge hidden, if only I could find it. Then I discovered Colossians 2:3 -- "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him".