I've been working extra hard on making time to build a real relationship with the Lord lately. Not just to be faithful and obedient, but really knowing Him and letting Him into every part of my life. It is not always easy. How do you know what God wants from you when he's not standing there face to face talking you through it? How do you know you're interpreting His word correctly? How do you even really get involved in His word and not just read it but know it in your heart?
I finally got around to watching a class from the Influence Network last night that came out last month. I know, I'm slacking! It was Women Who Read the Word 2.0 by Jess Connolly. If you need to be inspired to read your Bible or you don't know where to start, I highly recommend this class! (There is also a part one to this class, that Jess teaches as well, and both of these are still available as past classes! The first is called How To: Just Get in God's Word.)
So I watched the class last night and now I'm feeling inspired to really get into His word and eat it up and know it and know Him. BUT. How do I soak it up? How do I comprehend it? Because I can sit down and read it and when we're talking about genealogy or names or places, I'm totally lost. I can read it ten times over and still not know it. Also, reading the Bible raises a lot of questions for me. I do better when I read a Christian life book with bits of scripture that pertain to something I can relate to or the season I'm at in life. It can get so discouraging and I hate to say it, but I've never read the whole Bible and there is SO MUCH that I just don't know.
Regardless of all that I got up this morning with renewed conviction that it was time for me to try again. I usually read from a book or devotional or the YouVersion Bible app and then look up the key verses in my physical Bible. Last week I downloaded She Reads Truth and I decided to try their Bible in a Year and The Gospel devotionals. (Both of which are available for free in their app!)
I am so glad I started off with these. God knew exactly what I was needing and He delivered in His perfect timing. I started off with the Bible in a Year. Instead of going by the actual date and starting off with September's readings, I went back to January. Some people might do fine starting in the middle of the year, but I really needed to see things from the beginning and have a good foundation to start on in understanding the Bible as a whole. The first day's readings are from Genesis and John. It helps that I've read through Genesis multiple times, so it wasn't too hard to get into.
Next, I did the first day of The Gospel. The entire thing was powerful, but the best takeaway from it was this: "The mystery of the Gospel does nothing to negate its truth." Oh my goodness!! It is so big a concept that it is beyond our full understanding. The greatest Bible scholars in the world still have more to learn. It is not our job to know everything. God has that under control. Just because it is beyond my understanding DOES NOT mean that it is beyond His Godly power!
That takes a huge load off my shoulders. I want to know Him and be close to Him and use His word to glorify Him. I do not need to know everything the Bible says fully understand it to do that. I can lean on Him. He wants us to lean on Him. I don't know about y'all, but I am much more comfortable knowing that. The more I know from the Bible, the better. But I have the God given grace of not having to have my head wrapped around every single concept just to know Him, love Him, and walk with Him. That brings me divine relief. I hope it makes you want to jump into His word with less pressure too.
xoxo,
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