You can read the Bible as an instruction manual, but then you only get instructions.
You can read the Bible as a record of people’s encounters with God, but then you only get examples.
You can read the Bible as a theology textbook, but then you only get theology.
You can read the Bible as an ancient love letter, but then you risk only seeing the words of a past romance rather than experiencing a current one.
All of these are good—some more relational than others—but none quite enough to satisfy the desires of the heart and its longing for God. What’s better? Reading it as a current conversation, or at least the prompt for a current conversation. When you ask God to speak, read the words, and listen for his voice, you hear things. Provocative things. Remarkably penetrating things. Things that will reorient your thinking, change your direction, and send your heart soaring.
It’s fine to read scripture at an intellectual level—in fact, it’s necessary at times, and you certainly don’t want to turn off your brain when you read—but it’s vital to read with more than understanding in mind. If you want a living relationship with a living God, you have to read as though the words are alive, right now, and saying something to you. Ask him questions. Tell him why some parts are difficult or offensive or obscure, and invite him into the struggle. If he inspired the Word, he can certainly guide you through it. But most of all, he wants to speak directly into your heart. Let him, and experience the power of his voice.
