I sat there, curled up in a swirl of blankets, with my open Bible in my lap. My mind was racing and my heart was weary. This quiet time I was supposed to be spending with the Lord felt like it was more out of obedience than a longing to be near Him. In my anxiety and stress, it was hard to feel like God was close or understand how He was going to work things out.

My eyes hovered over the pages as I skimmed Jeremiah 29:11 hoping for a little encouragement. 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

I must have read that verse a hundred times before, and even though the greater context is God speaking to Israel after a time of exile, it still reminds me of His love and perfect plan that we get to be a part of as His children. But this time, I kept reading. 

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord…”

It was exactly what I desperately needed to hear. A promise that God will be found by any willing heart that seeks Him. 

The words were the same as they had always been, but in light of the week I’d had, they settled in my heart differently. It was like God was reaching out to me in that very moment through these ancient words, to breathe new life into my tender heart.

That’s the beauty of God’s Word. It is steadfast and unchanging, but also powerful, dynamic, and transformative. Hebrews 4:12 tells us, “…the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

I love that! God’s Word is neither stagnant nor indifferent. It can reach the deepest places in our hearts and minds and transform us. It meets us where we are, but does not leave us there. God’s Word is powerful in every circumstance, in every corner of the world, and in every generation. Whatever you are facing today, wherever you are in your faith journey, God has something to say to you in His Word. And if you want to get to know God better, there’s no place better to start. 

Through the Bible, God reveals His character, His heart, and His thoughts, especially as we look at the life of Jesus. God sent His son, Jesus to reveal Himself to us, so that we can know Him better. That means that when we see Jesus’ compassion, love, kindness, justice, and patience, we are beholding the character of God himself. Through this lens, we begin to experience God’s love for us, and God’s ultimate story of redemption and restoration comes alive. 

As we find our place in the story of God’s people, we discover that the Bible is also a practical tool for every facet of life. It guides us, helps us grow, and equips us thoroughly for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It helps us discern what is true, right, and good as we navigate a world full of opinions, pressures, and temptations that are all competing for our allegiance. 

A friend was recently sharing how workers at the U.S. Mint can quickly spot a counterfeit bill. They don’t memorize all the different kinds of fake money. They spend all their time studying the real thing. As they learn everything they can about the true bill, the phony becomes immediately obvious. The same is true of the Word of God. As we study and learn the truth of God’s Word, the counterfeit gods that the world offers are easily spotted. We can measure what we hear, see, and experience against God’s character because we know it firsthand through Scripture. 

My prayer for you is that each time you read your Bible, God’s words will settle deep in your heart. I pray that as you see God’s character unfold, your knowledge of His love for you will grow and the depth of your love for Him will flourish. And I pray that you will cultivate a longing to spend time with Him each day, reading His Word.

It only takes a few minutes a day to start on a journey of discovering and experiencing the love of God through Scripture. If you are looking for a place to start, the first 4 books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are great ways to catch a glimpse of God through the life of Jesus. Maybe there’s a local Bible Study Fellowship or Community Bible Study group that you could join and learn how to study the Bible more. Or you can find a friend and take on a few paragraphs at a time together. 

I pray that you will seek God with all of your heart, my sweet friend, and dive into His Word with eager anticipation. Just like God met me that day, sitting alone in a pile of fluffy blankets, He is waiting to meet you too, right where you are. You won’t have to look any farther than the pages of the Bible.

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He was running for his life. A few short days before he had just experienced the most incredible God moment. He had watched God bring fire down on the drenched wood of the altar, causing it to burst into flames (1 Kings 18:36-38). In that moment, God revealed that he was a powerful God, ruler over everything including the false god Baal. He had rejoiced when the disobedient people of Israel fell to their knees and proclaimed that God was the one true God. Now Elijah, God’s ambassador, was a fugitive on the run now that Jezebel, the queen of Israel, had ordered him to be killed. Those feelings of triumph and victory were quickly replaced with fear and loneliness. After a long day of running, Elijah fell down exhausted and hopeless under a tree and slept. What should he do now?

Have you ever felt like Elijah? In the outskirts of your mind, there are faint memories of times where you have experienced incredible God moments, but now your life is busy. The kids need to be transported to events. Deadlines at your job are looming. Don’t forget the decorations you said you would make for the church ladies’ event. Your life is defined by go, go, go. After a while, the constant running on the hamster wheel can take its toll and you start to feel a bit like Elijah. Those memories of God working in your life are replaced with feelings of exhaustion, defeat and hopelessness.

God saw Elijah’s state and sent help. An angel appeared to Elijah with food and drink and said, “Elijah eat.” Elijah, sat up, ate and went back to sleep. Again, the angel woke Elijah up and told him to eat or the next phase of his journey was going to be too much for him (1 Kings 19:7).  After Elijah ate his second God provided meal, he journeyed to Mt Horeb, the mountain of God. After a grueling forty days and forty nights, Elijah finally arrived. He was setting up his living quarters in a cave when the word of the Lord came to him with a question. “Elijah, what are you doing here?”

While God probably knew why Elijah was there, He also knew that Elijah needed to share and get some things off his chest. Elijah gladly took the invitation and boldly shared how he was feeling. He shared how he had worked hard as a prophet for God, but despite his best efforts, the King of Israel was not listening. He shared how he had done everything God had asked of him, and now he was running for his life. He also shared how he felt very alone in his faith in God (1 Kings 19:9-10).

After God had given Elijah the opportunity to share his sadness, anger and frustration, God invited Elijah out of the cave to the top of the mountain to be with Him. The Lord passed by in strong winds, earthquakes, and fire, but it was not in these loud and very visible expressions of power that the voice of the Lord came. It came in a soft and gentle whisper. Once again, God invited Elijah to share his burdens, but instead of just listening, God talks back. In the response, God confirms He had heard Elijah’s fears and loneliness. He explains the plan of action that will take care of the problem of those that are seeking to kill him. He also reveals to Elijah that he wasn’t alone in his devotion to God, but that there were seven thousand like him, who had never bowed a knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:11-18).

In this story we see the realities of life. Even when we are doing the will of God, life still seems to try to drag us down. It seems bent on trying to crush us with busyness and negativity, so that we forget the ways God shows up for us. But Elijah’s encounter with God shows us that even when we struggle to keep our heads above water amidst the crashing waves of life, God still comes to us to give us comfort and strength. He invites us to come to him for provision, knowing that otherwise the journey will be too much for us on our own. He invites us to share our burdens and frustrations. And he invites us to listen to His voice as He comforts us and shows us the next steps forward.

We are only able to hear His soft, gentle voice when we spend time with Him. Often we look at quiet times with God as just another to-do item we have to fit into an already full schedule. What if we changed our view of time with God from a to-do list item to a life-giving invitation to share and to listen? 

I know you have heard a million times how important quiet moments with God are, and you will hear it a million times more as God continually invites you out of the chaos of life to the quiet moments on the proverbial mountain of the Lord. The journey to those quiet times can seem difficult. Sometimes it seems downright impossible to make time for it. God provided what was needed for Elijah to make it to the mountain of God, and He provided Elijah what he needed to journey back into the daily grind of life.

The journey to the Lord is always worth it, no matter the struggle to get there because something miraculous happens inside us as we spend quiet moments sharing with God. The Bible is full of examples of people being transformed by being in the presence of God. Moses turned from an excuse maker, hesitant to do anything with God, to someone who didn’t want to go anywhere without him. The woman at the well transformed from a woman who was trying to avoid the judging eyes of her neighbors to someone who boldly shared Jesus with them. And in the story of Elijah, we see a man transformed from a hopeless runaway into someone who boldly went back into the world to change it. These three people were radically changed from the time they spent in conversation with God.

While Elijah’s journey to the mountain of God was a distance of many miles, your journey doesn’t have to be. Your journey to God can be to your couch in the early morning before the busyness of the day begins. It could be the journey to your car at lunch time to spend a few moments in prayer and meditation. Just like God was waiting for Elijah on the mountain of the Lord, inviting Elijah into relationship, so God is waiting for you to choose to journey to Him. Inviting you into a rich relationship. He wants to spend time with you–to hear what’s on your heart and to provide all you need.

Will you go to Him?

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With warm tea in hand and a Bible open, I was excited to start my favorite time of week. It was an encouraging time when our friends from a Muslim-only country would come to our house, and we would study the Bible together. It was a joy to see their hearts leap with excitement as God revealed Himself to them through His word. Together we would read a passage of Scripture and discuss it. Then, because they were voraciously reading their Bibles at home, they would come with questions about what they had been reading.

On one particular Sunday afternoon, the woman posed a question that I never thought of before, but impacted me greatly. “In the Muslim religion, before we begin reading the Quran, we have to shower and clean ourselves before we open the book. As a Christian, is there a ritual we should follow before reading the Bible?”

The Bible doesn’t lay out a specific ritual we should follow, but in light of what the Bible is, is there an attitude we should have when we read the Bible? Before we answer this question, we need to think about what the Bible is.

What is the Bible?

In simple terms, the Bible is the written Word of God. As God communicated with people over the centuries, those people wrote those words down. Now, we who live today, can be blessed by words God has spoken through the centuries. The words found in the Bible are a testament to the character of God and how He wants to live in relationship with His creation. In other words, they are the actual words of a loving, powerful, creator God.

At first glance, the Bible can appear to be just words on a page, but when those words are read or heard, those words become active and powerful. We first see the Word of God in Genesis, when His word spoke creation into being. The word of the Lord caused the sinful nation of Nineveh to turn from their wickedness (Jonah 3:6-9). Jesus hushed the storm with his words in the Gospels. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead with his words in John. The outcast Samaritan woman, whom Jesus met at a well, was transformed by Jesus’s words. The list goes on and on. The Word of God is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). It has the power to create worlds, control nature, bring life from death, and transform people’s lives.

How should we approach the Word of God?

In light of knowing that God’s Word is actual words from the ruler of the universe, in light of knowing these words have life and power in the here and now, what should our attitude be when we approach reading the Word of God?

We want to first approach reading the Bible with joy. God desires to communicate with us. He longs to be in relationship with us. He could have just left us to our own devices, but He didn’t do that. Instead, He chose to share with us what is good, what is not good, and how much He loves us. His desire to reveal Himself to us was so great, His word became flesh in the form of Jesus, and walked among us (John 1:14). The words written on the pages of the Bible are a labor of love from our God, and spending time in His word can fill us with incredible joy.

We also want to read God’s word with hearts that are open, pliable, and ready to listen. If we know the Word of God is living and active and has the power to change us, we want to sit before the Word ready to hear what God desires to say to us.

The attitude of our heart is important

In Matthew 13:3-9, Jesus shares with us how the soil of a heart impacts how the Word of God can change us. If our heart is unengaged or hard, the word has no way to grow. If our heart is open and pliable, the word is able to grow into a harvest that blesses not only us, but those around us.

When we sit down to read the Word of God, we have to be ready to accept the words of love and encouragement written there, even if we don’t feel love for ourselves. We have to know those words are true, because that is what we base our identity on regardless of whether or not our feelings agree.

We also have to be willing to allow the words of God to reveal the sinful parts in our heart that need to change. Knowing that the Bible is a revelation from a good God that desires to bless us, allows us to courageously make room for Him to change the unrighteous behaviors in our lives.

When we come to the Bible with grateful joy and an open-heart, it honors the God who wrote it. As we honor Him in reading His word, He blesses us. I have seen this to be true in my own life. The word of God encouraged me when I didn’t know if my sick kid would ever get better. It was His very words, found in the Bible, that let me know He was walking with me during that difficult time.

When my mind spins on sinful negativity, it is His word that renews my mind and helps me set my mind on truth, instead of my negative perception. I could name countless other times where His Word has helped me navigate times of conflict and anxiety with wisdom and hope. I have truly been blessed by spending time listening to God’s loving voice as I read His word.

There are plenty of books and articles out there vying for our time and attention. Many of them promise to help make our lives better or to offer encouragement, but none can provide us with the love, wisdom, and challenge that the Word of God brings when we read it with a joyful, open heart.

While we may not have to shower and prepare ourselves with physical rituals, like my Muslim friends did with the Quran, we should come to the word of God with a heart ready to honor God and eagerly anticipate hearing from Him. My hope is that time in God’s Word will become something you look forward to. The Creator of the universe loves you so very much and has gone to great lengths to talk with you. As you spend time with Him in His Word, I know you will be greatly blessed.

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At the beginning of last Fall, my family found ourselves needing to find a new place to live. The house we had been renting at a low price for the last 9 years was being put up for sale and we had to move. The housing situation in our area was a bit precarious, with high rent prices and even higher sale prices, so we weren’t sure what we were going to do. With housing prices that seemed out of reach and not very many houses on the market to begin with, our situation didn’t seem to have a good solution. We were faced with a situation that we certainly did not know how to solve–all we could do was pray and hope in the Lord to bring us the right place to live in the right time.

Sometimes we are afraid to hope…to let go and trust that everything is firmly in God’s grasp. Hope can be difficult when we live in a broken world that is filled with disappointments. But hope, true hope, is found in trusting in the Lord. Though hope in the things in this world may have brought disappointment, we never have to fear putting our hope in the Lord.

In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause. Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”

Psalm 25:1-5

Psalm 25, in the words of King David, says that those who hope in God will not be put to shame. Usually when we hear the word “shame” we think of humiliation or embarrassment, but “shame” in this verse refers to being let down or disappointed, meaning that if you hope on the Lord, He will not let you down. Some translations use the word “wait” or “trust.” In other words, no one who waits, hopes or puts their trust in the Lord will be let down. He is SO trustworthy–we never have to fear placing our hope on our Lord!

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Romans 5:5

Now that doesn’t mean that as a Christian you will never be disappointed. Instead, it means that as you wait actively on the Lord and hope in Him, not in what He will do for you, but confidence in who He is, then you will not be disappointed. Sometimes we make the mistake of focusing on the thing we want or need most, instead of focusing firmly on the Lord. We can actively participate in hope through our prayers lifted up to God, asking Him to teach us His ways and to guide our hearts toward His will.

The Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary describes hope as “the eye of faith which looks forth clear and fixedly into the future.”

While we didn’t know where we would land or how it would be possible to make getting a house a reality, God knew. We trusted in the fact that God already knew our future and had it all under control. We may not have been able to see it yet, but He could. He knew how our situation would all work out and He was actively bringing it all together for our good. We had faith that God would take care of us and we didn’t need to fear (although, I must admit it was still stressful at times for this “must-plan-everything” gal!).

So, we actively stepped forward in faith and took the steps that we knew to do, and God led and guided us to just the right house. In His loving kindness, God provided all we needed to make buying the house a reality. Things came together in ways that still blow my mind when I think about it! It had God’s fingerprints all over it!

Sometimes we must wait a long time for what we hope for to happen. It can be difficult to always see where and how God is working in our lives and in our situations. Even in these times, we can have confidence in who God is and that He is indeed working on our behalf to bring about good in this world and in our lives. Biblical hope is an active waiting with confident anticipation.

In Psalm 23, King David is appealing on behalf of all of us in his prayer, that we might not be ashamed of our hopeful expectation, by the delay, or the denial of what we ask–that as we wait on the Lord in worship, trust in His love, seek and experience His presence, and look ahead to salvation in Jesus, we will not be put to shame.

Maybe you have been waiting in hope for a long time for that job, a spouse, a child or a realization of a dream. If you are weary in waiting or lacking in confident hope today, I pray that you will hear these words prayed thousands of years ago by King David, that were prayed for you as well, and be encouraged. Even if you are unsure on how God is working, you can be confident that He is a God who loves you more than you can even imagine and has wonderful and amazing plans in store for you! Hold on to hope in God and His promises–it doesn’t disappoint!

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