Taste and See

"Oh taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him."  Psalm 34:8

I love the Word of God.  Seriously.  Some days, actually many days, get away from me and I don't pick up my Bible.  I always find that when that is going on, I am grumpy and irritable.  I can't properly mother my children and I am not pleasant to be around.  I don't mean that in a legalistic, must have my "quiet time," kind of way.  There is nothing quiet about anything in our home - Bible time or anything else.  Everything is done in the midst of "real" life.  Including diving into God's Word.  I don't get up early for my Bible reading - if I did, I would fall asleep in my chair.  Don't get me wrong, it is a great idea, and if you can manage it, more power to you.  But, don't let church formulas and 12-step processes designed to bring you "closer to God" discourage you into not getting into His Word.  There is no 12 (or any other number) - step process that will bring you closer to God.  God hasn't moved.  He gave all of Himself on the cross and freely filled you with His Holy Spirit the millisecond you gave your life to Him.  You can't get any more of Him, no matter how hard you try.  It is not about trying to get closer to Him, it is about loving Him so much that you want to know Him.  Intimately.

Even though there are times that life gets the best of me,  there are also times when I simply can not get enough of reading my Bible.  I carry it around and peek into it when I have a second - sometimes a literal second.  I furiously scribble notes because I am a writer and I can't read without a pen in my hand.  I am in the middle of one of those times right now.  I read two Old Testament prophet books while my kids were at their guitar lesson last night and Patrick was asleep in the car.  It was way too late for him to be napping and I should have woken him up, but I kept praying he would stay asleep while I finished reading Nehemiah.  I am a strange one sometimes.

I want to know deeply this God who loved me enough to die for me.  When I read His Word and I see His plan to redeem mankind so clearly laid out for us, I wonder that anyone could reject Him.  It is so clear to me that without Him we are nothing.  Absolutely worthless in all that we try to get right.  I can't be a wife, a mother, or even a decent human being apart from His grace.  I shudder to think what I could become without His mercy in my life.

Over the years I have been in the habit of "canned" Bible Studies.  You know the ones, a DVD of a speaker, with a home work book for you to do every day that gives you little snippets of the Bible to "study."  Now don't get me wrong, in and of themselves there is nothing wrong with these.  However, for me they often took the place of digging deep.  What I found was that often these studies yank out portions of Scripture that go along with their "theme" and somehow you miss the big picture.  Or "the rest of the story..." as Paul Harvey would say.   Other people's words should never, never take the place of God's in your life. 

It has been several years since I have done one of these types of studies, and in some ways I have missed them, but in many  more ways I like the fact that I have had to think a little more.  Ponder, and ask God to give me the wisdom to understand His Word.  Not too long ago I would never have attempted to read Nehemiah or Amos without a "Bible teacher" there to give me his or her take on it.  Now, I simply ask God to open my ears before I start to read and, even if there are things I don't understand, I always, always take something away from my reading.  God is so good like that.

Something else that happens when you truly dig into the Bible for yourself without all the commentary from others, is that you gain a lot of discernment.  Suddenly, when you come in contact with a verse torn completely out of context and printed in a "devotional" or a small group study, you realize immediately that the author had a personal agenda for trying to get you to think and feel a certain way.  Francis Chan said in one of his sermons, "I can make the Bible say whatever I want by taking out verses one at a time."  Anyone can do that.  That is why I prefer sermons where the pastor preaches word for word through an entire book of the Bible, instead of sermons that are comprised of his "thoughts" and random verses of Scripture.  It just doesn't give an accurate view of who God truly is.

God is truly capable and more than willing to show Himself to you.  He longs for an intimate relationship with you - for reasons that are so far beyond what I can wrap my mind around.  I know me, and He shouldn't love me so much, but praise God, He does.

"How sweet are your words to my taste?  Sweeter than honey to my mouth!"  Psalm 119:103

Take some time to peek into the Bible for yourself.  You will be shocked at what God opens up to you.  I also have a book recommendation that I love to use when I pray for my children - and others.  It is compiled by Jodi Berndt and it is called Praying the Scriptures for Your Children.  It is broken up into sections and there are lists of Scriptures, straight from the Word, to pray over your children.  It is powerful and I love my copy.  Obviously, you could compile these lists yourself from the Bible, which is what Jodi did - in this case, she has done the work for you.  Check it out.