"find the knowledge of God"
Proverbs 2:5
Did you ever sit down to do something, and find it was much more complex than you anticipated? Perhaps even something you knew was going to be complex? Or difficult? Only to find out that you still had no idea what you were getting yourself into?
Well, then you know a little about how Lewis and Clark felt. See, they knew that what they were setting off to do was going to be difficult. Dangerous, even. The goal of the Lewis & Clark Expedition was to map and scout the new territory that Thomas Jefferson had just purchased from the French. But they also intended to find an easy route to the ocean on the western side of the continent; a water passage. Put simply, they were expecting to find an east/west equivalent of the Mississippi River.
At one point, Meriweather Lewis left his party behind to climb the bluffs that lay before them, expecting to see the waters that would carry them the rest of the way to the Pacific. But rather than seeing a gentle sloping valley, he was the first white American to lay eyes on the Rocky Mountains.
For me, the awe and fear that Lewis must have felt as he saw what lay before him, is what I felt years ago when I began to study the Bible in earnest. The joy of appreciating the Book as a whole was the mountain range that lay before me.
Early on, studying the Bible was, for me, learning what was in there, and what the different books were about... where they were and who wrote them.... finding the Book of Philemon, and remembering how many L's there are in Philippians. Then it became about understanding better what I already knew.
And at some point, I came to the realization that I was playing a joyous game of "Connect the Dots". Or rather, "Connect the Scriptures". I found that often, my pastor was teaching on something that connect exactly with what I just learned in Bible Study ~ even though they were in two different parts of the Bible.
So after talking about understanding the whole verse, and understanding the whole message, today's discussion is about understanding the whole book.
It's been said that the greatest commentary on Scripture is Scripture. What that means is, that if you don't understand something in the Bible, the explanation is elsewhere in the Bible. You might find it helpful to read other commentaries, but don't neglect to look in places other than where you are reading, right there in the Bible.
For instance, Micah says in chapter 5, "from you, Bethlehem Ephrathah... shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler of Israel." And Isaiah says in chapter 9, "In Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." It seems to me that those who studied and knew the writings of the prophets might have trouble reconciling the seemingly contradictory nature of these two verses. How could the Savior come from both Bethlehem and Galilee? And yet He did. We who study the Bible now, are knowledgeable as they were not. We can see the connection between these verses, where all they saw was contradiction. And more enlightenment awaits us! Someday every confusing word in Revelation will make perfect sense!
The word "sacrifice" is mentioned in Scripture over 350 times. Clearly this is important to God. But then I read Hosea 6:6, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." And 1 Samuel 15:22, "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." I can read every verse on the how and why to sacrifice, but I have not learned all I can until I have read those two verses on what God loves more than sacrifice.
In Exodus, when Moses asked God His name, that he might have an answer for the children of Israel, God replied, "I Am." I wonder if that seemed incomplete to Moses; if he waited for the end of God's sentence... "uh huh.... You are... ??" But that was God's statement. It spoke of the completeness of His being, and it spoke of His eternal existence. But I think the perfection of God's sentence came when Jesus spoke it: "I Am the Bread of Life... I Am the Light of the World... I Am the Door... I Am the Good Shepherd... I Am the Resurrection and the Life... I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life... I Am the Vine." 41 books, 1500 pages and centuries after God spoke.
One of my favorite connections is Galatians 5:22-23 and Matthew 12:11-12. Galatians 5 lists the fruits of the Spirit, and the last line in verse 23 is "against these there is no law." This seems like a strange line to have here. Of course there wouldn't be a law against love, or kindness! Why would there be? These are all positive things! And for years the wording of it bothered me. And then one day I was in Matthew 11, where Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, and the religious authorities accused Him: "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" He was being accused of disobeying a law, by showing love and kindness. But though the Pharisees tried, against such, there is no law.
Countless times, the Old Testament appears in the New Testament. The Book of Psalms refers back to what was happening in David's life when he wrote them, and refers forward to Jesus' coming to earth. Jesus fulfills prophecies from thousands of years before, while prophesying about what will happen thousands of years later, and while on the cross, He quotes Psalm 22. And Paul refers to the Old Testament while in Corinth writing to the Thessalonians, and then while in Ephesus writing to the Corinthians!
The Word tells me that righteousness comes from faith, that joy comes faith, and that strength comes from joy... that obedience comes from faith, faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.... that perseverance comes from trials, character comes from perseverance, and hope comes from character... He makes beauty come from ashes, the oil of joy comes from mourning, and a garment of praise comes from a spirit of heaviness. Because every good and perfect gift comes from Him.
Mstislav Rostropovich was a Russian cellist. And a fan once said of him, "I always had the same reaction, even up to the last time I heard him play ~ that I just wanted to run home and pick up my cello." This is how I want to learn the Bible. To leave church, or Bible study, or even a conversation with the Apple of my Eye, running to my Bible wanting to find out more about something that the Holy Spirit just brought to my remembrance. There is much to learn, and it's not always easy, but He wants us to want it. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Tis the good reader makes the good book."
~ "He opened their understanding,
that they might comprehend the Scriptures" ~
Luke 24:45
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