The unfolding of your words gives light. (Psalm 119:130)

We all know how important it is to read the Bible in our journey towards union with God. It’s right up there with fasting, praying, and partaking in the Eucharist. As St. Clement of Alexandria puts it, “for those who have chosen to major in holiness, there is special training in the Word.”

But what if you don’t feel like it…

You feel like you have too many things to get done to read today
You’re too tired or are feeling lazy and just want to put it off

Well St. John Chrysostom has this to say to you:

What on earth are you saying? … that’s the very reason why you need to read the Bible! The more worries you have, the more you need the Bible to keep you going! People like monks and nuns who have left the troubles of the world behind are quite safe; they are like ships sailing on a calm sea, or moored in a quiet harbor. But you are in the middle of this godless world’s stormy sea, and so you need spiritual help and sustenance far more urgently. They live far from the battlefield, out of the sound of gunfire; but you are in the front line, face to face with the enemy, and you are bound to suffer frequent blows and be severely wounded. So you need the medicine-chest close at hand.

But let’s not just focus on why we should do it… let’s also remember why we want to do it.

There are more quotes than you can believe on this topic basically saying the same thing:

Constant meditation upon the holy Scriptures will perpetually fill the soul with incomprehensible ecstasy and joy in God

-St. Isaac the Syrian

I don’t know about you but ecstasy and joy in God sound like things worth pursuing!

So we know that we should read the Scriptures and even maybe want to read them, but now let’s turn our attention to how one should read.

Pray Before

Do not approach the words of the mysteries contained in the Scriptures without prayer and without asking for God’s help. Say, “Lord, grant that I may receive an awareness of the power that is within them.” Consider prayer to be the key to the understanding of truth in Scripture, says St. Isaac the Syrian.

The Church teaches us the importance of praying before reading the Scriptures as this concept is built into the liturgy itself. Fr. Alexander Schmemann writes in his book, The Eucharist:

The celebrant reads the prayer before the gospel, in which he asks God to send down the “pure light of Your divine knowledge. Open the eyes of our mind to the understanding of Your gospel teachings.” This prayer, which is now read silently, occupies the same place in the sacrament of the word that the epiklesis, the supplication for the Father to send down His Holy Spirit, occupies in the eucharistic prayer. Like the consecration of the gifts, understanding and acceptance of the word depend not on us, not only on our desire, but above all on the sacramental transformation of the “eyes of our mind,” on the coming to us of the Holy Spirit. The blessing that the priest bestows on the deacon as he is about to read the gospel testifies to this: “May God…enable you to proclaim the glad tidings with great power, to the fulfillment of the gospel…”

Read with the Fathers

The Church believes that it has one source of revelation: the Tradition of the Church.

It is important to understand that the Scriptures were given to us as part of this One Holy Tradition. If someone were to say, “I believe in the infallibility of the Scriptures” we should respond, “me too, but as long as they are explained by the fathers and lived by the saints.”

Throughout the ages, heresies have occurred when someone interprets the Scriptures using their own mind outside of the Tradition of the Church. This is why we need to read the Scriptures with the Church Fathers, and with consensus patrum, the agreement between the Fathers as to the correct interpretation.

St. Ignatii Brianchaninov sums up the matter nicely:

You ask: Why is it necessary to read the Holy Fathers? Is it not enough to be guided by the Holy Scriptures as the pure Word of God, without any admixture of human words?

And I reply: Reading the Holy Writ, one also has to read the Holy Fathers of the Church. St. Peter says this concerning Scripture: “No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (II Peter 1:20,21). So how do you wish to interpret arbitrarily the spiritual words which were uttered not from one’s own will, but as prompted by the Spirit and which, as such, prohibit any arbitrary interpretation. It is the Spirit who uttered the Scripture, and it is he alone who can interpret it. It was committed to paper by men inspired by God, the prophets and the apostles; and men inspired by God, the Holy Fathers, have interpreted it. Therefore, everyone who wished to have the true understanding of the Holy Scriptures must also read the Holy Fathers. For should you confine yourselves to reading the Scripture alone, you will try to understand and interpret it arbitrarily. And misconceptions will be unavoidable, because “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God… neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:14,11)… The Universal Church…has always had particular respect for the patristic writings, for they preserved the common Church tradition which had to have a commonly accepted, true and grace-giving interpretation of the Scriptures…

Read Between the Lines

The goal of reading the Bible should not be to read the Bible.

Reading the Bible should be a means to bring us into closer intimacy with Whom it is about.
We don’t worship the words of the Bible but rather the Word of God Himself.

When you read the Scriptures, do not have in mind to read page after page, but ponder over each word. When some words make you go deep into yourself, or stir you to contrition, or fill your heart with spiritual joy and love, pause on them. It means that God draws near to you.

St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain

Just as God became incarnate and met us where we were, God veils Himself in the different versions and languages of the Bible. There is really no ‘correct’ version or proper language in which to read the Bible (although some are preferred because they are closer to the original translation). St. John Chrysostom affirms this by saying

“As when God became man in Bethlehem the eternal Word became flesh, so in the Bible the glory of God veils itself in the fleshly garment of human thought and human language.”

What’s more is that just as we eat His flesh and drink His blood in the Holy Eucharist, we partake of Him in the same way in the reading of the Scriptures. Paul Evdokimov writes, “While reading Scripture, the Fathers read not words, but the living Christ, and Christ spoke to them. They consumed words in the manner of the Eucharistic bread and wine, and the word appeared to them in its Christ dimension.”

So let us read the Scriptures with a new desire for Him and a yearning for Him to open our understanding that we might comprehend them.

I will leave you with the following passage from Kallistos Ware’s, The Orthodox Way,

The real purpose of Bible study is…to feed our love for Christ, to kindle our hearts into prayer, and to provide us with guidance in our personal life. The study of words should give place to an immediate dialogue with the living Word himself. “Whenever you read the Gospel,” says St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, “Christ himself is speaking to you. And while you read, you are praying and talking with him.” In this way Orthodox are encouraged to practice a slow and attentive reading of the Bible, in which our study leads us directly into prayer.

Check out Part VI

(Photo courtesy of Justin Sebastian)

Many of the quotes from this post came from this book: Philokalia: The Bible Orthodox Spirituality and if you want to learn more about the One Holy Tradition of the Church I encourage you to check out St. Cyril’s Society Online Certificate in Orthodox Mission

“He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4:16-21

This was Jesus’ response to my wounds, and I needed those exact words. Just picture yourself in that synagogue, sitting right opposite Jesus as He unrolls the scroll and proclaims those words. As He tells you so bluntly and powerfully that He is anointed and that He’s here to proclaim good news to you. Visualize your spiritual poverty now, visualize the state of your Spirit’s health. He’s here to proclaim good news to the poor. That’s you.

Imagine being on the second bench from the back in that synagogue, overwhelmed by work, studies, money, life. Feeling imprisoned and constricted, struggling to breathe from the pressure and anxiety you feel. And now in this very moment, of complete hopelessness, Jesus, the Prince of Heaven, looks directly at you as He holds the scroll of Isaiah and proclaims “I’m here to free the prisoners”. Just His stare, or his voice alone as He speaks these words, shatters the shackles tying you down into fragments. He’s here to proclaim freedom for the prisoners. That’s you.

As you sit in this synagogue full of shame, surrounded by your righteous Jewish brothers and sisters who, in your eyes, keep the law to the word, you begin to feel the weight of sin. And yet again Jesus steals your attention as He reads the next line of the passage and says that He’s here to recover the sight of the blind. You know He’s talking about you. You know you’re the one blinded by the heavy cloud of sin surrounding you. And you know you need recovery of your sight. He’s here to give recovery of sight for the blind. That’s you.

Your eyes start tearing up, tears of joy, tears of peace and comfort, tears of acceptance, of freedom. As you look into His eyes, you can’t help but smile. You can’t wait to hear what other promises He’s about to bestow upon you today. He sees you and with the biggest smile He reads “to set the oppressed free” then looks directly at you. All the oppression of Satan, all his attacks and lies, that’s tied you down is lifted. He’s here to set the oppressed free. That’s you.

You close your eyes in awe of the words Jesus is speaking to you and your Spirit begins offering a song of praise to God. You don’t deserve all this love. It doesn’t make any sense that you, a sinner in the synagogue with a stained heart, should receive these promises from Jesus. And in that moment, in that moment of thankfulness Jesus says that He is here to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. It wasn’t enough for Him to proclaim good news to you, to free you, to recover your sight and to end your oppression. He’s now promising you a year of the Lord’s favor?! A year of joy and freedom in God?! What.

You eyes are wide open. Your whole being is focused on Him. Nothing and no-one but Him, as if all has gone out of focus. Jesus, compassionately smiling, looks directly at you and says to you “today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”.

You are no longer poor.
You are no longer a prisoner.
You are longer blind.
You are no longer oppressed.

You, are favored by Jesus.

As I received Jesus’ promises this morning I was moved to tears. Life is tough, it’s not easy. We won’t always get what we want when we want, and sometimes it’s just going to be rough. That’s fact. But it’s also fact that Jesus has always and will always be here. It is fact that He has the power to free me from any hardship I go through. And it certainly is fact that I am loved and favored by Him and He delights over me with singing.

Today, let your wounds be healed in the synagogue.

Baba, Lord, my King and my God – Jesus Christ my hope:

If there was ever a time that I made You smile, if there was ever a time when You called me Your beloved son, if there was ever a time that I found favor in Your sight… then hear these words Lord. Hear me now.

I need You to save me. “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear².” You promised to save me.³ I can’t do this without You.⁴ I can barely stand in the battle⁵, much less win the war.

You told me, “My son, give me your heart”⁶ … it’s Yours.

You said “do not be afraid, only believe”⁷… I believe Lord, help my unbelief!!!⁸

You promised that you’d never let go of me… that You’d always be there for me.⁹ Manifest Yourself to me. I want to feel Your presence and witness Your saving grace.¹⁰

How long oh Lord, how long must I wrestle with my thoughts and everyday have sorrow in my heart?¹¹ Look to me and see my anguish and deliver me for Your names sake. I am poor. I am needy; I need you.

Teach me to trust in You… to love You more. To see Your hand working when everything seems lost.. when all seems desperately hopeless.

I want to show You my obedience so that You know that I love You.¹² As You know and as You will.. have mercy, according to Your tender mercies which are from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my rebellious ways.. but in Your great love.. remember me.¹³

“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”¹⁴ Let it not be so my Lord Jesus… let it not be so. By Your grace; by Your strength.

Give me to fight the good fight of faith that I may lay hold on eternal life!¹⁵ Let me not trade the Kingdom for a thought not pleasing to Your goodness.

Open my eyes and teach me; help me realize how much I’m hurting You… how much I’m hurting myself.

I desire purity of heart.. so that I may see You¹⁶.. so that I may touch You .. and know You more.

I don’t want to be like every other great man of faith who fell to this one sin. “She has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men.”¹⁷ If that is the case Lord than what of me?!

If David fell with Bathsheba¹⁸, if Sampson gave into Delilah¹⁹, if the wisest man on earth, King Solomon, gave his heart to foreign women and eventually turned his heart away from the One True God²⁰, if Elijah ran from Jezebel because he believed that she had power to destroy him even though You were protecting him²¹, than what of me! The weak, the feeble, the heartbroken.

Come Lord and give me the strength to fight this battle. Give me a passion for You.. to struggle.. to overcome.. to be purified!! I need Your help. I need You to motivate me to overcome.²² I want to love You more Lord. I pray that You don’t take the war away, but that You instead allow me to be victorious.²³ I want You to be so proud of me.

-Your Beloved²⁴

¹ 2 Corinthians 2:10
² Isaiah 59:1
³ Romans 10:13
⁴ John 15:5
⁵ Ephesians 6:11
⁶ Proverbs 23:26
⁷ Mark 5:36
⁸ Mark 9:23-24
⁹ Deuteronomy 31:6
¹⁰ 2 Corinthians 6:2
¹¹ Psalm 13:2
¹² John 14:15
¹³ Psalm 25:7
¹⁴ Romans 7:15
¹⁵ 1 Timothy 6:12
¹⁶ Matthew 5:8
¹⁷ Proverbs 7:26
¹⁸ 2 Samuel 11
¹⁹ Judges 16
²⁰ 1 Kings 11:4-8
²¹ 1 Kings 19
²² Psalm 51:12
²³ Romans 8:37
²⁴ John 13:23

“Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord. “Should you not tremble in my presence?” (Jeremiah 5:22)

Approaching God in Fear

Too many of us continue to approach God solely as a buddy or as a friend. We high-five Him, joke with Him, call Him our homeboy and completely forget that He is the Lord God Almighty, the King of glory, and the Lion of Judah. While an intimate friendship with Him is to be desired, this should not take away from the fear and awe by which we approach Him. Abraham, whom the Bible called a friend of God (James 2:23), understood how to speak to Him. While he was pleading with the Lord to save Sodom he approached Him with humility and reverence:

“Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27)…Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more” (Genesis 18:32).

Bad things happen when we forget to give God the honor and glory due to Him:

For instance, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem in 2 Samuel a man named Uzzah was afraid it was going to fall off the cart it was being carried in so he “put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it” and in His anger, God struck him dead on the spot (2 Samuel 6:6-7).

In the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant was where God physically manifested Himself to the people of Israel between the two golden cherubim, and there was a certain way it was to be approached and carried (it definitely wasn’t supposed to be touched by Uzzah, even if he thought he was helping). God’s anger wasn’t aroused because he didn’t follow the rules – it was because of the lack of fear by which Uzzah touched the Ark.

Fearful Worship

In order to really worship God – to deeply, from the bottom of your heart really adore Him – you need to fear Him.

Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? (Revelation 15:4)

In my Orthodox Church, during the major parts of the liturgy, the word ‘fear’ is always used. Before we read the gospel, the deacon says, “Stand up in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.” This reminds the congregation that what we are about to read is the Living Word of God that has the power to transform lives. Also, right before the Holy Spirit descends on the bread and wine to mysteriously change them into the Body and Blood of Christ, the deacon chants, “Worship God in fear and trembling.” Whenever the word ‘fear’ is mentioned it is a reminder to wake up and really understand what is taking place around you.

The thing is… God wants to ‘wow’ us with all that He is. He doesn’t want our lives with Him to be routine or ordinary. He wants us to know the He is Holy, Just, Sovereign, Majestic, Powerful, AMAZING – not just in our heads, but in our hearts:

…these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder… (Isaiah 29:13-14).

We need to learn to worship God the way King David did:

But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; in fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple (Psalm 5:7).

We need to ask Him to open our eyes to the greatness of who He is and all that He does so that we might be able to fearfully worship Him:

I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him. (Ecclesiastes 3:14)

We don’t worship a wimpy God – we worship THE LORD!

I can’t put it better than the following quote by Mike Yaconelli:

“I would like to suggest that the Church become a place of terror again; a place where God continually has to tell us, “Fear not”; a place where our relationship with God is not a simple belief or a doctrine or theology, it is God’s burning presence in our lives. I am suggesting that the tame God of relevance be replaced by the God whose very presence shatters our egos into dust, burns our sin into ashes, and strips us naked to reveal the real person within. The Church needs to become a gloriously dangerous place where nothing is safe in God’s presence except us.”

Fear Keeps Us From Sin

This shouldn’t be the primary focus of fearing God but there really is no way around this verse:

But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. (Luke 12:5)

Put another way: By the fear of the Lord one departs from evil. (Proverbs 16:6)

As Godly men, the fear of God should motivate us to continually seek and pursue Him with all of our hearts in order to be that branch that bears fruit:

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:2)

Let’s not forget that at the end of it all we will all have to approach His throne to give an account of everything we did in this life:

Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

The Maturation of Fear is Love

Fear is in the beginning: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7).

Love is in the end: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear… but he who fears has not been made perfect in love (1 John 4:18).

What takes place in the middle is really cool:

In Matthew 13, Jesus gives us “The Parable of the Hidden Treasure” and “The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price”

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (verses 44-46)

In these two stories the two men portrayed are not very business savvy (and one of them is even a merchant!) Why would they sell everything they have to obtain this one thing that they had found? Why not just sell enough of their stuff to buy it for a reasonable price? You can almost look at these parables and say these men were operating with the notion that what they were doing was urgent. It was critically important. It is very possible that they were afraid that someone else would find what they had found and beat them to buying it. They wanted it regardless of what they had to do or sell to get it.

God wants us to be afraid in this way: He wants us to be afraid of losing Him. He wants us to be like these two men in the sense that we’ll do anything in order to have Him – to have more and more of Him in our lives.

In the famous Psalm of repentance, King David pleads “Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit away from me” (Psalm 51:11).

No, God is not going to leave us or forsake us, but we need to stop treating our sin like it doesn’t matter; we need to stop approaching Him with apathy; we need to be afraid of hurting Him and bringing sorrow to His heart; we need to FEAR Him:

the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. (Psalm 147:11)

“Our world is… longing to see people whose God is big and holy and frightening and gentle and tender… and ours; a God whose love frightens us into His strong and powerful arms where He longs to whisper those terrifying words, ‘I love you.'” (Mike Yaconelli)