Non-Devotional Bible Reading (November 14, 2004)

As you read through the Bible, don't worry about whether you are getting anything out of it. Just keep reading.

It seems to me that some well-meaning preachers burden us unnecessarily when they insist that we discern God's special message to us in our daily Scripture reading. There may not be a special message for us - at least not right then and there. There is no need to get frustrated over that. Don't worry if the story of the Amalekites getting crushed has not touched your heart in a special way. Just read it, try to understand, and go on to the next chapter tomorrow.

I think daily Bible reading is kind of like physical exercise. If you keep exercising, it gradually transforms who you are (or maintains who you are, if you are already in good shape.) This happens even if the exercise session itself is neither ecstatic nor pleasant. I jog (believe it or not). I don't like to. But I like the long-term effects of lower blood pressure, lower heart rate, higher energy, etc. Now the thing to notice is that these effects take time to manifest, and they certainly are not part of the exercise experience. Your heart rate and blood pressure actually go up when you exercise, and your energy level goes down (way down, in my case, and fast). Does that mean that my jogging is a failure, that I'm doing something wrong? Of course not. The whole idea is to pant and feel miserable during exercise so that you won't pant and feel miserable when you're just walking up stairs.

Read the Bible, and if you feel that on any particular day you have learned nothing, accomplished nothing, drawn no closer to God, felt no touch of his Spirit - do not fret about that. And for heaven's sake don't let such feelings discourage you from regular study of the Word. Sometimes we can no more discern what God is teaching us than we can detect precisely that moment when diligent exercise has dissolved a bit of artery gludge. Ultimately, of course, we will learn if we read (as we will be healthier if we jog), but to expect that the process itself be uplifting and the payoff immediate is too much to hope for. Be released from that spiritual burden.