Help, I Need Somebody

Syd Hielema is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Campus Chaplain at Redeemer University College, located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was gracious to send us a copy of this devotional after it appeared in the campus newspaper.

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him (Acts 8: 30-31).

Help! I need somebody,
Help! Not just anybody,
Help! You know I need someone,
Help!
(“Help!,” Lennon/McCartney).

We live in a self-help culture. Our definition of adulthood includes navigating our way through life’s challenges on our own, independently. If we run stuck, we have bookstores overflowing with self-help books and, of course, that greatest self-help guru of all time: Google (or one of its many spin-offs). If I was given a dollar for every person who walked into the chaplain’s office and said, “I never expected to need any help, but I’ve hit a wall and I need to talk…,” I could retire to Mexico by now (well, almost…).

The assumption is that if we can’t figure things out on our own, there’s something wrong with us.

In the Kingdom of God, the reality is exactly the opposite: if we think we can figure everything out on our own, there’s a lot wrong with us. The very first comment that the Lord God made about us as he observed us in that wondrous Garden of Eden was, “it is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2: 18).

Did you catch that? In a perfect world, before the fall into sin, we were created in such a way that we needed help! And that need is only multiplied now that we walk with our Lord in a fallen world that he has redeemed. That’s why Paul writes, “The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you” (I Cor. 12: 21). The community that is led by the Holy Spirit is an interdependent body in which every single one of us needs the others.

This need for help applies to every dimension of our lives (in different ways at different times), but it always applies to our devotional life. We easily assume that praying and reading Scripture are just simple activities that anybody can do, and then we beat ourselves up because we discover that our devotional life isn’t going that well (sound familiar?). That’s why in November we chaplains sent out “30 ways to pray” and this month we’re doing the same with reading Scripture.

Do you desire to strengthen your own reading of Scripture? Do you recognize that you need help to do this?

Because we all need a little help.

Syd then provided us with a detailed, annotated list of devotional resources in print he recommends to the students at Redeemer, which follows this paragraph. (If it’s not visible, clicking the “more” tab below will take you there.) Some of these may not be available where you live and I know one is possibly out-of-print, but I wanted to include it here in full so that you can see that breadth of materials available, and this list is hardly exhaustive. I’m surprised that in four years of recommending devotional materials we’ve never done a list like this, but today makes up for it!  Be sure to click through. Comments and additional recommendations are welcome.

Meet Me in the Morning

O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. — Ps. 63: 1 NKJV

---

I must secure more time for private devotions. I have been living far too public for me. The shortening of devotions starves the soul, it grows lean and faint. I have been keeping too late hours. — William Wilberforce

---

(This is a republishing of an article that appeared here at C201 a year ago.)

At the summer camp where my wife and I met, we learned a song based on Psalm 63, Early Will I Seek Thee.

I’m not a morning person, so the concept of ‘morning devotions’ isn’t part of my heritage, though I’ll grant you that the trajectory of your entire day is formed in the first half hour.  I’ve heard it said that, “Most Christians are defeated between their bed and the breakfast table.”

However, when I have a Christian book I’m working on, yes, I can get up early and start the day with it, but most of my serious reading for the past 20 years has come as part of the evening devotional time I’ve spent with my kids, who are both now college age.

Maybe that’s why this blog publishes at what is here in the U.S. and Canada between 5:00 and 6:00 PM EST most days. It’s my hat-tip to afternoon devotional readers.

However, it’s worth noting that only the KJV and NKJV use the term ‘early.’ Now before you worry, there is indeed a lot of scriptural precedent for beginning the day with a sense of God’s presence, with Scripture meditation, and with a word of prayer. But the other translations — including the very ‘literal’ NASB — felt the intent of the Hebrew in Ps. 63 was better expressed in terms of ‘earnestness.’

It is our earnestness God desires more than anything.

O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. – Ps. 63: 1 NLT

Here’s how The Message translates the entire Psalm:

God—you’re my God!
I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
traveling across dry and weary deserts.

^2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
drinking in your strength and glory.
In your generous love I am really living at last!
My lips brim praises like fountains.
I bless you every time I take a breath;
My arms wave like banners of praise to you.

^5-8 I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy;
I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises!
If I’m sleepless at midnight,
I spend the hours in grateful reflection.
Because you’ve always stood up for me,
I’m free to run and play.
I hold on to you for dear life,
and you hold me steady as a post.

^9-11 Those who are out to get me are marked for doom,
marked for death, bound for hell.
They’ll die violent deaths;
jackals will tear them limb from limb.
But the king is glad in God;
his true friends spread the joy,
While small-minded gossips
are gagged for good.

Those with an aversion to morning devotions might also check out Isaiah 26:9

My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. – ESV

Surprisingly in this verse however, several translations incorporate both morning and evening references, including, interestingly enough, this one:

All night long I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek for God. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right. – NLT (emphasis added)

Before you take sides on this one, here are some other verses to remember:

Psalm 86:3 — Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long.

Psalm 71:24 — My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long, for those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion.

Psalm 71:8 — My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. (all NIV)

And finally, from our out-of-context department, this line from Psalm 127:2

It is vain for you to rise up early.

Notice I didn’t highlight that one in green; scripture, when taken totally out of context doesn’t really count, does it?

…But it was my favorite verse for many years.

Questions:

Do you find that God meets you in different ways at different times of the day?

Even though there is obviously a morning/evening balance in scripture, many of our classic hymns have emphasized morning. “Early in the morning, our song shall rise to thee…” “Morning by morning new mercies I see…” “When morning guilds the skies, my heart awakening cries.” Do you think that the Bible seems to favor morning time with God over evening time with Him?

(This might be a good point to end with a return visit to this song.)

Devotions for Morning and Evening

O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. — Ps. 63: 1 NKJV

---

I must secure more time for private devotions. I have been living far too public for me. The shortening of devotions starves the soul, it grows lean and faint. I have been keeping too late hours. — William Wilberforce

---

At the summer camp where my wife and I met, we learned a song based on Psalm 63, Early Will I Seek Thee.

I’m not a morning person, so the concept of ‘morning devotions’ isn’t part of my heritage. When I have a Christian book I’m working on, I can get up early and start the day with it, but most of my serious reading for the past 20 years has come as part of the evening devotional time I’ve spent with my kids, who are both now college age.

Maybe that’s why this blog publishes here in North America between 5:00 and 6:00 PM most days. It’s my hat-tip to afternoon devotional readers.

However, it’s worth noting that only the KJV and NKJV use the term ‘early.’ Now before you worry, there is indeed a lot of scriptural precedent for beginning the day with a sense of God’s presence, with Scripture meditation, and with a word of prayer. But the other translations — including the very ‘literal’ NASB — felt the intent of the Hebrew in Ps. 63 was better expressed in terms of ‘earnestness.’

It is our earnestness God desires more than anything.

O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. – Ps. 63: 1 NLT

Here’s how The Message translates the entire Psalm:

  God—you’re my God!
    I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
    traveling across dry and weary deserts.

^2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
    drinking in your strength and glory.
In your generous love I am really living at last!
    My lips brim praises like fountains.
I bless you every time I take a breath;
    My arms wave like banners of praise to you.

^5-8 I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy;
    I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises!
If I’m sleepless at midnight,
    I spend the hours in grateful reflection.
Because you’ve always stood up for me,
    I’m free to run and play.
I hold on to you for dear life,
    and you hold me steady as a post.

^9-11 Those who are out to get me are marked for doom,
    marked for death, bound for hell.
They’ll die violent deaths;
    jackals will tear them limb from limb.
But the king is glad in God;
    his true friends spread the joy,
While small-minded gossips
    are gagged for good.

Those with an aversion to morning devotions might also check out Isaiah 26:9

My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.  – ESV

Surprisingly in this verse however, several translations incorporate both morning and evening references, including, interestingly enough, this one:

All night long I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek for God. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right. – NLT (emphasis added)

Before you take sides on this one, here are some other verses to remember:

Psalm 86:3 — Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long.

Psalm 71:24 — My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long, for those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion.

Psalm 71:8 — My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.    (all NIV)

And finally, from our out-of-context department, this line from Psalm 127:2

It is vain for you to rise up early.

Notice I didn’t highlight that one in green; scripture, when taken totally out of context doesn’t really count, does it?

…But it was my favorite verse for many years.

Questions:

Do you find that God meets you in different ways at different times of the day?

Even though there is obviously a morning/evening balance in scripture, many of our classic hymns have emphasized morning. “Early in the morning, our song shall rise to thee…” “Morning by morning new mercies I see…” “When morning guilds the skies, my heart awakening cries.”  Do you think that the Bible seems to favor morning time with God over evening time with Him?

(This might be a good point to end with a return visit to this song.)

The Bible Speaks to Your Anger Issue

Billions and billions of people drop by Tim Challies blog every day, some of whom aren’t even Calvinists.  Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration. Tim wrote this recently under the title What The Bible Says About Anger, and you’re encouraged to click through and explore the rest of his long-running blog.

---

I suppose it should come as no surprise that the Bible has a great deal to say about anger. Anger is, after all, not only a result of sin but also a common cause of sin. Here is what the Bible has to say:

It is good to be slow to anger. Those who are quick to anger display a lack of wisdom.

Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. (Proverbs 14:29)

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. (James 1:19)

Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. (Ecclesiastes 7:9)

Anger should be addressed as soon as possible because it can easily turn to sin.

The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7)

You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment …. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:21-24)

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger. (Ephesians 4:26)

Though at times anger can be righteous (see especially Mark 3:5 where Jesus becomes angry), anger is generally to be avoided.

For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. (2 Corinthians 12:20)

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. (Ephesians 4:31)

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. (Colossians 3:8)

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. (James 1:19-20)

 

 

Seven Penitential Psalms

Most of us are familiar with Psalm 51, David’s prayer of repentance following his affair with Bathsheba. But we’re less familiar with the idea that there are actually seven ‘penitential’ psalms: 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143; although Psalm 102 does not contain a specific confession of sin.  Here are the seven, each from a different translation, with key verses underlined:

Psalm 6

New International Version (NIV)

¹ Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
    or discipline me in your wrath.
² Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;
heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
³ My soul is in deep anguish.
How long, Lord, how long?

⁴ Turn, Lord, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.
⁵ Among the dead no one proclaims your name.
Who praises you from the grave?

⁶ I am worn out from my groaning.

All night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
⁷ My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.

⁸ Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
⁹ The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
    the Lord accepts my prayer.
¹⁰ All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;
they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

Psalm 32

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Our God, you bless everyone
whose sins you forgive
and wipe away.
² You bless them by saying,
“You told me your sins,
without trying to hide them,
and now I forgive you.”

³ Before I confessed my sins,
my bones felt limp,
and I groaned all day long.
⁴ Night and day your hand
weighed heavily on me,
and my strength was gone
as in the summer heat.

⁵ So I confessed my sins
and told them all to you.
I said, “I’ll tell the Lord
each one of my sins.”
Then you forgave me
and took away my guilt.

⁶ We worship you, Lord,
and we should always pray
whenever we find out
that we have sinned.
Then we won’t be swept away
by a raging flood.
⁷ You are my hiding place!
You protect me from trouble,
and you put songs in my heart
because you have saved me.

⁸ You said to me,
“I will point out the road
that you should follow.
I will be your teacher
and watch over you.
⁹ Don’t be stupid
like horses and mules
that must be led with ropes
to make them obey.”

¹⁰ All kinds of troubles
will strike the wicked,
but your kindness shields those
who trust you, Lord.
¹¹ And so your good people
should celebrate and shout.

Psalm 38

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

A psalm by David; to be kept in mind.

  O Lord, do not angrily punish me
or discipline me in your wrath.
²         Your arrows have struck me.
Your hand has struck me hard.
³ No healthy spot is left on my body
because of your rage.
There is no peace in my bones
because of my sin.

⁴ My guilt has overwhelmed me.
    Like a heavy load, it is more than I can bear.
⁵ My wounds smell rotten.
They fester because of my stupidity.
⁶ I am bent over and bowed down very low.
All day I walk around in mourning.
⁷ My insides are filled with burning pain,
and no healthy spot is left on my body.
⁸ I am numb and completely devastated.
I roar because my heart’s in turmoil.
⁹ You know all my desires, O Lord,
    and my groaning has not been hidden from you.
¹⁰ My heart is pounding.
I have lost my strength.
Even the light of my eyes has left me.

¹¹ My loved ones and my friends keep their distance
and my relatives stand far away because of my sickness.
¹² Those who seek my life lay traps for me.
Those who are out to harm me talk about ruining me.
All day long they think of ways to deceive me.
¹³ But I am like a person who cannot hear
and like a person who cannot speak.
¹⁴ I am like one who cannot hear
and who can offer no arguments.

¹⁵ But I wait with hope for you, O Lord.
You will answer, O Lord, my God.
¹⁶ I said, “Do not let them gloat over me.
When my foot slips,
do not let them promote themselves at my expense.”
¹⁷ I am ready to fall.
I am continually aware of my pain.
¹⁸ I confess my guilt.
My sin troubles me.

¹⁹ My mortal enemies are growing stronger.
Many hate me for no reason.
²⁰ They pay me back with evil instead of good,
and they accuse me because I try to do what is good.

²¹ Do not abandon me, O Lord.
O my God, do not be so distant from me.
²² Come quickly to help me, O Lord, my savior.

Psalm 51

The Message (MSG)

Psalm 51

^1-3Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.
Scrub away my guilt,
soak out my sins in your laundry.
I know how bad I’ve been;
my sins are staring me down.

^4-6 You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen
      it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
whatever you decide about me is fair.
I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
in the wrong since before I was born.
What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

^7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
      give me a clean bill of health.
   God, make a fresh start in me,
      shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
I’ll let loose with your praise.

^16-17 Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.

^18-19 Make Zion the place you delight in,
repair Jerusalem’s broken-down walls.
Then you’ll get real worship from us,
acts of worship small and large,
Including all the bulls
they can heave onto your altar!

Psalm 102

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹ Lord, hear my prayer!
    Listen to my plea!
² Don’t turn away from me
    in my time of distress.
Bend down to listen,
and answer me quickly when I call to you.
³ For my days disappear like smoke,
and my bones burn like red-hot coals.
⁴ My heart is sick, withered like grass,
and I have lost my appetite.
⁵ Because of my groaning,
I am reduced to skin and bones.
⁶ I am like an owl in the desert,
like a little owl in a far-off wilderness.
⁷ I lie awake,
lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.
⁸ My enemies taunt me day after day.
They mock and curse me.
⁹ I eat ashes for food.
My tears run down into my drink
¹⁰ because of your anger and wrath.
For you have picked me up and thrown me out.
¹¹ My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows.
I am withering away like grass.

¹² But you, O Lord, will sit on your throne forever.
Your fame will endure to every generation.
¹³ You will arise and have mercy on Jerusalem—
and now is the time to pity her,
now is the time you promised to help.
¹⁴ For your people love every stone in her walls
and cherish even the dust in her streets.
¹⁵ Then the nations will tremble before the Lord.
The kings of the earth will tremble before his glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord will rebuild Jerusalem.
He will appear in his glory.
¹⁷ He will listen to the prayers of the destitute.
He will not reject their pleas.

¹⁸ Let this be recorded for future generations,
so that a people not yet born will praise the Lord.
¹⁹ Tell them the Lord looked down
from his heavenly sanctuary.
He looked down to earth from heaven
²⁰     to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to release those condemned to die.
²¹ And so the Lord’s fame will be celebrated in Zion,
his praises in Jerusalem,
²² when multitudes gather together
and kingdoms come to worship the Lord.

²³ He broke my strength in midlife,
cutting short my days.
²⁴ But I cried to him, “O my God, who lives forever,
don’t take my life while I am so young!
²⁵ Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth
and made the heavens with your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you remain forever;
they will wear out like old clothing.
You will change them like a garment
and discard them.
²⁷ But you are always the same;
you will live forever.
²⁸ The children of your people
will live in security.
Their children’s children
will thrive in your presence.”

Psalm 130

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

  Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord.

² Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
³ If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.
⁶ My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
⁸ And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.

Psalm 143

New Century Version (NCV)

 ¹ Lord, hear my prayer;
       listen to my cry for mercy.
    Answer me
       because you are loyal and good.
 ² Don’t judge me, your servant,
       because no one alive is right before you.
 ³ My enemies are chasing me;
       they crushed me to the ground.
    They made me live in darkness
       like those long dead.
 ⁴ I am afraid;
       my courage is gone.

 ⁵ I remember what happened long ago;
       I consider everything you have done.
       I think about all you have made.
 ⁶ I lift my hands to you in prayer.
       As a dry land needs rain, I thirst for you.
                         Selah

  ⁷ Lord, answer me quickly,
       because I am getting weak.
    Don’t turn away from me,
       or I will be like those who are dead.
 ⁸ Tell me in the morning about your love,
       because I trust you.
    Show me what I should do,
       because my prayers go up to you.
 ⁹ Lord, save me from my enemies;
       I hide in you.
 ¹⁰ Teach me to do what you want,
       because you are my God.
    Let your good Spirit
       lead me on level ground.

 ¹¹ Lord, let me live
       so people will praise you.
    In your goodness
       save me from my troubles.
 ¹² In your love defeat my enemies.
       Destroy all those who trouble me,
       because I am your servant.

 

God is Not Always Ordinary

This post is from C. Michael Patton and Tim Kimberley at the Credo House blog, Parchment and Pen.  Click here to read at source, and then explore the rest of the blog.

1 Kings 8:10-11
It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

I don’t know why, but I am possessed by this passage this morning (or as we say in Oklahoma, “this smorning”). Two subjects: 1) the glory of the Lord, 2) the service of the priests.

Get this: the glory of the Lord overwhelmed the service of the priests.

Now this seems unfair to the priests. After all, they are only doing as God had instructed. Why does God come in and mess things up? “So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud.” They could not minister? Their religious candles blew out. The smell of incense was diluted. The ram got loose. The prayers were silenced due to a distracting and overwhelming noise. All that the Lord had been doing through them was brought to cessation as it was replaced with something else. Something breathtaking. Something that buried the service they had become accustomed to.

One priest went to a growing line before the king to log his complaint.

Another priest went home believing this excused him for day off.

Another priest looked at the glory with entertainment, happy to have the monotony of his days interrupted.

Another priest say to his friend, “Don’t believe what you see. This is not how it normally happens. We only adore the normal.”

Only one priest stepped aside to observe and partake in the awe and hope that was coming into being. Only one allowed the curtain to be rent, the locks to be broken, and the glory to be shown.

Theological thought: How often to I allow God to step into my life and do something different, something extraordinary?

How often do you? Or are we too set in the ways that we think the Lord must do things? But sometimes God is not ordinary.

~C. Michael Patton

More at Parchment and Pen: Follow the series Ten Myths About God with Tim Kimberley and C. Michael Patton. When this blog was scheduled they were up to #5, click here to watch.

More about the “not ordinary-ness” of God: Check out the post yesterday at Thinking Out Loud —  God Doesn’t Do Boxes.

Scripture Under the Magnifying Glass

Blogger Brian Russell has been doing a series on how we read scripture.  This one appeared a couple of weeks ago under the title Suggestions for a Close Reading of Biblical Text.  I encourage you to click the link and then visit other articles in this series.

There are three core elements in learning to study a text closely:

• observation,
• asking questions, and
• seeking answers

First, observe the details in the text and record observations. The wise interpreter continually captures insights and observations through careful note-taking. Read slowly. Take your time. This is particularly true for familiar passages. Don’t assume that you know the meaning of any text. Ponder the words and phrases found in the text. Savor the images and language used to convey the text’s message. Notice how the individual words are connected together into a tapestry. You may find it helpful to read a couple of different translations and record the differences as a means of reflecting on the text. Stay put within the confines of the passage you are studying. Resist the temptation to flip to another part of the Bible until after you have carefully engaged the text that you are studying. Describe it. Dissect it. Paraphrase it. Analyze it. Observe recurring words, phrases, ideas, and themes. Establish an outline or create a chart to organize its content. Above all, don’t give up. Persist in the process of collecting your own observations and insights. This process will prove generative in terms of the insights and new questions that will emerge.

 

Second, while making observations, be sure to write out questions that your observations lead you to ask. Engaged reading requires this. The best interpreters of the Scripture are those who ask the most penetrating questions. This process of reading the text carefully and recording a series of observations and questions is the secret to engaging the Bible at a deep level. Observations lead to questions, and questions guide the interpreter to new insights. Ask questions that engage the text at two levels: defining questions and questions about function. Defining questions attempt to gain a full description of the content of the text (“What’s here?” “What is the precise and specific meaning of each element that is present?”). Functional questions focus on the “So what?” and attempt to probe beneath the surface to look for the deep meaning and implications.

Let me offer an example. If we are studying Exodus 19:4-6, we will encounter a phrase that is unique in the Old Testament. In verse 6, we find, “You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation.” The twin noun phrases “kingdom of priests” and “a holy nation” are critical for the interpretation of this text. Regarding the phrases, we may ask the following defining questions: What is the precise and specific meaning of the phrases “kingdom of priests” and “a holy nation”? What is the relationship between these two phrases? Definitional questions are followed by functional ones: Why are these particular phrases being used here? What is their significance?

 

Third, answer key questions. In many ways, biblical interpretation is nothing more and nothing less than the answering of interpretive questions that the reader asks about the text. Review your observations and questions. Select the handful of questions whose answers are essential for making sense of the text. Begin answering your questions by looking at the observations that you have already made. What evidence have you already found through your close reading to begin to develop possible answers? If you need additional help in answering your questions, you may find it helpful to read other commentaries, look up subjects in a bible dictionary, or use a concordance to study key words as they are used elsewhere in Scripture. 

 

Summarize your answers along with the key evidence that supports them. When summarizing, attempt to answer a question such as this: If this were the only part of Scripture that I had, what would I know?

by Brian Russell

Praying the Scriptures

We hear this term mentioned frequently, but to actually engage in this practice takes time and discipline.  We begin first with a short introduction to this topic from Michael at In-Formatio and then continue with a link to something exceptionally detailed for those of you who want to go deep on this.

Seventeenth-century French mystic Madame Guyon said, “Praying scripture is not judged by how much you read but by the way in which you read. If you read quickly, it will benefit you little. You will be like a bee that merely skims the surface of a flower. Instead, in this new way of reading with prayer, you must become as the bee that penetrates into the depths of the flower. You plunge deeply within to remove its deepest nectar.” (From Common Prayer)

John 15:9-17 (The Gospel for Sunday, May 13)

Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

With that as a starting point, I want to direct you to this article at the blog The Radical Life  by Andy Robinson of King’s Church, Horsham (UK) where you’ll read about:

• Praying Chapters
• Praying Chunks
• Praying Chippings
  

with example scriptures that may be used for each.

Apology: Yesterday’s piece here was posted at 5 AM instead of 5 PM EST.  For those of you who come each day, be sure you didn’t miss the testimony article which appeared the day before.