The habit of engaging with scripture
I used to think that Jesus was quite distant and reserved. He was preoccupied with divine business and only dealt with me in matters necessary to his economy. Jesus was to me, as some often believe, just a kind, moral teacher. But that was before any of this happened.
Writer John Eldredge expresses Jesus as “...the playfulness of creation, scandal and utter goodness, the generosity of the ocean and the ferocity of a thunderstorm; he is cunning as a snake and gentle as a whisper; the gladness of sunshine and the humility of a thirty-mile walk by foot on a dirt road. Reclining at a meal, laughing with friends, and then going to the cross.”
I have come to know and love this Jesus most profoundly through the work of Hebrews 4. There it says, “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” God’s sanctifying work in my life has come by the cutting and crushing power of His word.
The most influential discipline I have pursued in my life is to engage scripture—to dig deeply in finding the goodness that God has for me in my Bible through the habit of reading, studying, and memorizing with friends and family. It is this discipline that I fumble with most often, but it’s the one that has done me the greatest good.
Last year I picked up a book called A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23. This book paired with studying and memorizing Psalm 23 proved to be one of the most anchoring things for my soul. I found myself whispering these verses during restless nights, assuring myself in moments of anxiety and stress of God’s shepherding of me. I stumbled through lines like He restores my soul...He anoints my head with oil...My cup overflows.
I have come to know Jesus as the Good Shepherd and much more through his cutting and crushing of me by his word, through sharing with community the questions I have, and by seeing what God has to say in scripture. It is clear to me now that I have often misunderstood Jesus because I have simply not pursued him and experienced him more deeply through the Bible. Oh that I would know Jesus more deeply—to move further up and further in.