Whereas in our devotions together we read long consecutive passages, in our personal meditation we confine ourselves to a brief selected text, which possibly might not be changed for a whole week. If in our reading of the Scriptures together we are led into the whole length and breadth of the Bible, here we go into the unfathomable depths of a particular sentence and word. Both are equally necessary, "that ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height" (Eph. 3:18).
In our meditation we ponder the chosen text on the strength of the promise that it has something utterly personal to say to us for this day and for our Christian life, that it is not only God's Word for the Church, but also God's Word for us individually. We expose ourselves to the specific word until it addresses us personally. And when we do this, we are doing no more than the simplest, untutored Christian does every day; we read God's Word as God's Word for us.
Grace asks: 'I was a bit confused by this part:
ReplyDelete"In our meditation we ponder the chosen text on the strength of the promise that it has something utterly personal to say to us for this day and for our Christian life, that it is not only God's Word for the Church, but also God's Word for us individually. We expose ourselves to the specific word until it addresses us personally. And when we do this, we are doing no more than the simplest, untutored Christian does every day; we read God's Word as God's Word for us."
So is [simplicity/ not being bound by things we learned in the past] while we read the Word a good thing? B/c at first I thought this was a caution for us, and then it seemed to be something encouraged?'
My response: The goal is to read whatever passage as speaking to us today. What he's saying is that doesn't require any sophisticated higher-level analysis to do, but just to read the passage and apply it to our lives. That's a major way God speaks to us, through the Bible passages we read. Does that make sense?
Yup, that makes sense. Thanks.
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