Picture us seated on God’s lap as though we were three years
old, and God were our parent. We’re all
reading the same big storybook together.
Now picture Jesus’ disciples walking beside him on a road – perhaps the
road he took into Jerusalem to be crucified for our sins. He is speaking and they are listening. Are the two pictures really so different? This is Bible-reading. They are both pictures of being shaped by the
word.
I know we are used to thinking of reading as more of an
intellectual activity. We probably all
know ‘readers’. They might be more like
‘thinkers’ instead of ‘doers.’ More
abstract, analytical, and contemplative.
But they don’t have to be. The
way we read should be the way we live.
Down the centuries, words have come to us side by side with the real
people who lived them. They are best
kept together. Words and deeds. Reading and living.
Two passages from our reading thus far can teach us how to
keep our reading and our living close together.
On Day 1, we read Psalm 1, which imaged this life to be like “trees
planted by streams of water.” Let’s
think about that. What is so great about
this tree? That it is planted by the
water. The water takes care of
everything. This is a happy tree. A happy human life is planted in the words of
God and reads them, meditating on them day in and day out. The disciple can grow anywhere, in whatever
circumstances…as long as there is water.
Reading God’s word well is the same as living it well.
But what about the tree that isn’t planted by these streams? What about the person who isn’t happily contented in God’s word? Genesis 3:7 gave us a picture of this on day 2. Adam and Eve both ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and their ‘eyes were opened’. They realized they were naked. This is the opposite of trees being planted by streams of water. This is trees uprooting themselves from the water. Their eyes weren’t turned outward to what satisfied them. Their eyes were turned inward to what they were now missing.
Of course, this describes each of us. Every one of us is part of the ruinous
heritage of Adam and Eve. We have all
sinned. We all die. But, the way of Psalm 1 is still open to
us. It was lived by Jesus Christ. He shares it with us. Peter says a remarkable thing. He says that Jesus bore our sins in his body
“on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24, ESV), meaning the cross. Even though we cast our life away in sin,
Jesus has become our tree planted by living water. Through his sacrifice, we gain access to the
happy way of life Psalm 1 describes.
The readings of Genisis so far describe deceptions by God's Holy people. They lie about their wives being their sisters. Jacob steals the birthright of his brother Esau and then is decieved into marrying Leah.
ReplyDeleteIt is much like us when we accept our salavation. We are still a work in progress. We still sin and fall away. We doubt our conversion experience due to our uprooting from the living water. As we grow in age and Spirit we mature as disciples. Much like Jacob did and will in our readings. It is the nature of man to sin, but God is with us and loves us. Teaching us to be planted in the Word. By doing so he shapes us through our sins/mistakes and brings us back to Him. My readings so far have helped me to understand my earlier life. Full of rebellion or uprooting myself from the Living Water. Yet as my life has unfolded He has made a Way for the roots to remain and for me to grow and use my earlier sins as a Way back to the Banks of His Stream. The scoundrels Jacob and David eventually become mighty warriors for a Holy God. Not by their own designs but through the infinite Love and Mercy of a God who would send His Son to die on a tree so that we might live with and for Him. May God Bless the reading of His Holy Word.