For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it (Job 33:14). Oh, that just gives me chills every time I read it! God is always speaking to us, to me, to you. He is always articulating his love to you. He is always declaring your true identity in Christ over you. He is always whispering his promises to you. If only we will tune in to listen. How do we make ourselves sensitive to what he is trying to communicate to us?

Well, I have a rather boring answer. But at the same time, the most exciting answer. God’s Word. The Word of God. We use words to speak, right? The Bible is how God is speaking to us. Do we really believe that the Word of God is living and active in our lives? And sharper than a two edged sword (Hebrews 4:12)? Or do we just read it out of obligation if we’re feeling particularly guilty because we don’t read it as much as we should? Or do we just use it to try and fix our undesirable external behaviors on occasion, or look to it for a brief moment of encouragement when we’re feeling a bit down?

The Bible is the only book that reads us. It looks into our souls, and speaks to what we need to hear in the moment, encouraging us or convicting us, showing us who we are, showing us what we were created to do. And it makes sense; the gospel of John begins with: ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.’ The Word is Jesus. Jesus is in the words the Bible is speaking to you. So when you are reading the Bible, or like we said before, when the Bible is reading you, it is Jesus, looking into your soul, seeing what you need to hear, and speaking it directly to your soul and spirit.

That makes the Bible a little more exciting, right? But the Bible doesn’t always make sense! I know! And that’s what is so fantastic about it! God has mysteries and secrets that he wants to share with you by getting to know you. Everything in the Bible means something. If you start with that as a fundamental baseline for how you read the Bible, everything begins to come alive in it. I really started falling in love with the Bible when I was reading through the genealogy of Christ…and getting very annoyed. Why was all that so important? Why did God put that in there? I was frustrated. I didn’t know where to start reading the Bible, so I figured I should try starting in the gospels. And straight away I was bored and not understanding why I had to slog through all the genealogy muck. I became irritated, and kind of shouted at God in my mind. Okay fine! If everything means something, then why is that there?! Then I had the thought, or more appropriately, the Holy Spirit prompted me, what do you suppose the meanings of all those names are? Hmm. That’s an interesting thought. So I started looking up the meaning of the names. Let’s just look at the first 10 names:

Adam – Man

Seth – [is] appointed,

Enosh – [a] mortal man [of]

Kenan – sorrow.

Mahalael – The glory of God

Jared – [will] descend

Enoch – dedicated [that]

Methusaleh – his death shall bring

Lamech – those in despair

Noah – rest.

When you string it all together, it sounds an awful lot like the basic gospel message, does it not? After that, I was hooked. I started looking up every name I came across in the Old and New Testament. I looked up the meaning of numbers, why things were repeated two and three times What was significant about a list of six things, a list of seven things? If you start with just those basics, the Bible will start to come alive for you. Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep asking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7-8). Don’t give up. If something doesn’t make sense, like Jacob when he wrestled the angel and would not let go until he blessed him (Genesis 32:26), don’t let go of God until you get an answer to your questions in the Bible. Keep asking.

Even more than that, the more you read the Bible, the more the Holy Spirit can speak to you. The Holy Spirit doesn’t speak on his own, but only what he hears the Father saying (John 16:13). And what is the Father saying? The Father is saying what the Word is saying. The more you feed your spirit with the word, the bigger vocabulary the Holy Spirit has to speak the Word to your heart. He will bring to your remembrance what you have read (John 14:26). But to be reminded, you have to put it in there first. This is how we tune in to hear what God is saying when he is always speaking to us.

I pray you will start to read the Bible more, not out of obligation, but out of interest in what God has to say to you. I pray you will keep asking, and not let go of his Word until he shows you what it means when you don’t understand. And I promise you’ll start hearing him speaking directly to you. The Bible is living and active, and is the only thing powerful enough to actually change your life, because it is the Words of Jesus working in you.

Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourself flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (Hebrews 12:2-3 MSG)

If you want somewhere to start, I suggest the following:

Like Hebrews says, start with the gospel account of Jesus crucifixion and resurrection

Matthew 26-28

Mark 14-16

Luke 22-24

John 17-21

Psalm 1 – Promises of following the Word

Psalm 19 – How the Word is significant in your life, and promises it holds for you

Psalm 91 – Protection and safety

Psalm 139 – You are known and loved by God

John 15:1-17 – Abiding in Christ and the promises he has for you

Hebrews 12 – Faith is a fight

Isaiah 53 – Jesus in the Old Testament(after reading the accounts of the crucifixion and resurrection)

In Him – Just a girl pursuing her reflection in the mirror