Today, I emphasize the importance of truly engaging with the Bible rather than merely reading it superficially. Many people claim to have read the Bible, but they often only skim through sections without grasping its full narrative or depth. I encourage listeners to approach the Bible as they would a great novel, understanding that context is crucial for comprehension. By reading the entire text from beginning to end, we gain insight into the character of God and the overarching story of redemption. Ultimately, this deeper understanding enriches our faith and strengthens our relationship with God.

Takeaways:

• Engaging deeply with the Bible encourages a better understanding of its teachings and context.
• Reading the Bible cover to cover reveals the overarching story of God and humanity.
• To truly grasp the Bible's message, one must read it like a novel, not just in snippets.
• God’s timing in fulfilling His promises is often longer than we anticipate or desire.
• Understanding God requires immersing oneself completely in the entire text of the Bible.
• Listening to the Bible can be as meaningful as reading, providing access to its wisdom.

Links referenced in this episode:

• bible805.com

Welcome to the Hobo Soul Podcast of Road advised from the Bible and from me, Yvon Prehn, someone who's a little further down the road of life. I'll talk to you every Tuesday and Thursday for about 10 minutes.

And if you'd like more in depth information on walking with Jesus, you can find that at my www.bible805.com website. For now, let's get started on our topic for today, which is

Episode number 48. Read the directions, all of them

Our verse for today is Psalm 119: 104 to 105, where it says,

"Your commandments give me understanding. No wonder I hate every false way of life. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."

Now there's a measure of the sort of consider trusting me on this for what I'm going to say in this episode, because I'm going to encourage you to read the Bible and not only just take in the content, but consider taking the advice that's in it, attempting to limit it out maybe in a way you never have before. Now, before you tune me out and before you quit listening because you think, well, I've already done that. I've read the Bible.

But maybe you didn't understand it. The language, the stories, the structure. Maybe just the whole thing just didn't make sense.

Maybe you didn't like what it had to say because it seemed outdated or sexist, or sometimes it was kind of mean and cruel, or you just didn't want to do some of the things that it seemed like you were supposed to do.

Now, I can understand where you're coming from on all those things, but before I would comment or even talk about any of them, I would like to humbly and sincerely ask, have you ever really read it? Now, most people say they've read the Bible, but they haven't really read it. They may have dipped in here or there, heard a few verses here or there.

But bear with me, I want to give you an analogy and I want you to honestly consider if you've ever really read it, like you read a novel that you wanted badly to understand. Maybe read it like perhaps the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I pulled out my copy of Lord of the Rings just a few minutes ago before I started working on this podcast, and I put it next to my Bible, to the study Bible that I have in my office, and they're about the same size. They're both big books. Now consider for a few minutes, how well would you understand what Lord of the Rings is All about if you.

First of all, you begin at the beginning, as you would with any book, and you find a birthday party for a Hobbit. Now, I'm going to put aside for a moment trying to figure out what Hobbits are.

And then a wizard appears and then there's some sort of magical ring, but you were just dipping into it because your friend said that it was good to read and you don't really believe in wizards and so you just put it aside.

But a few days later you're feeling guilty, so you jump right into the book again, but this time you just open it up in the middle and instead of something like the Book of Psalms, you find a quote that says, and I'm just quoting you exactly out of the middle of the book, where I just opened it up and it says,

"When Saruman was safe back in Ornak, suddenly up came fires and foul fumes.

Several of the Ents got scorched in blisters and one of them got caught in a spray of some liquid fire and burned like a torch. A horrible sight."

Well, I don't like stories of gore like that, so put it aside again. But, you know, let's try near the end of the book.

And near the end of the book, there's some poetry. Now, maybe that'll make sense and at least perhaps it'll be a little more peaceful. And here's what it says.

"The road goes ever on and on

Out from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the road is gone.

Let others follow it who can."

Okay, well, that is a bit more peaceful and hopeful, but it doesn't really make sense.

And so you shut the book, wondering why your friends think it's such a great story. And you tell them, well, you know, I read Lord of the Rings and I just didn't think that much of it.

Now, what I said might, of course, seem like a really stupid story because of course you wouldn't read a great novel like Lord of the Rings in that way.

In the book itself to understand it, to help you understand it, there's a long prologue where the author tells you all about the Hobbits and the setting of it. There are numerous maps and appendices that have timelines and explanations.

And as helpful as all of these are, and really necessary if you're going to understand the book, you've got to read the whole thing, every word in order, cover to cover the way the story was written. And if you truly want to understand it, you might want to read it more than once.

I, have a dear friend who's read it five times and she'd be the first to admit there's so much more to understand in it. Now, I hope the analogy is obvious, and I'm sure it is.

You can't say you've read the Bible or really know anything about it if you started in Genesis several times, bailed out by the time you hit Leviticus and then picked it up again to jump into the middle of Psalms and maybe going near to the end to read stories of Jesus and then find out that we win in Revelation.

Now, even more important than reading any book, and the Bible's not alone in this, in order to understand the storyline, you've got to read the whole thing, to understand the characters in it with the Bible.

More importantly, you've got to read the whole thing to get to know the main character of the Bible, who is our God, the creator of heaven and earth and us and everything that's here. And to get to know how he truly works throughout all of human history.

You won't see him, you won't understand him, you won't truly see God and learn to trust him if you only read bits and pieces here and there. Now when you read the whole thing, it's a little bit like a treasure map where you don't find the treasure until the quest is complete.

But when you read the whole Bible, you see from the various stories, histories, actions that are talked about again and again, patterns. And this is very important, you see patterns about God that will help you understand how he truly acts, not just how people want him to act.

Here's just one of them. And there are so many that are worth your study.

One of the most important things is that God always seems to take a long time, time to do whatever he promises to do, whatever we want him to do. And it's always longer than we think it should be. This is a constant throughout the Bible. Here are some examples.

God promised a Savior from the effects of sin with the first humans that he created. But it took thousands of years for that to come about. God promised Abraham a son. It took 25 years till Isaac was born.

God told the people he would bring them back into the land after the Babylonians took them captive. And he did, 70 years later. Now, even if the time waiting is shorter, it never seems to work on the schedule humans want.

I've told this story before, but it bears repeating. When Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, and then walked unrecognized with a couple on the road to Emmaus, they told Jesus.

You know, it's been three days since Jesus died, and to them nothing had happened. I just cannot imagine how heaven must have laughed at hearing that.

But as we read the Bible, as we get to know God better, as we see how he acts in story after story after story, we see how his timing is perfect for what he is working out for his people, for them to grow and trust and to show the world that he is God. And as we see how he worked out the timing, then we learn to trust him now, when his work in our lives seems unbearably slow.

Learning about how God views and uses time is only one thing you'll learn from reading the Bible. Really reading it, reading it repeatedly, cover to cover, preferably in chronological order.

And I have many resources on www.bible805 to help you do that. Think of it another way. It's like reading a collection of letters from someone you love.

Read bits and pieces and you'll only learn a little bit about that person. Read them again and again and again, and you see their heart. So get into the Bible now. Here. I'm not saying you need to read it. Reading is okay.

But if you're listening to this podcast and prefer listening over reading, you can listen to the Bible. Reading isn't anything, especially spiritual.

Listening is the way most people took in the content of the Bible throughout most of human history, and there are lots of apps available today that make that possible. But the content of the Bible, that's the important thing to help you get to know your God.

Take it in, understand the whole book, understand the author, and I imagine you'll see the directions in it in a whole new and valuable and trustworthy way. And you'll learn to follow them for a successful and joyful life.

That's all for this podcast, for transcripts, links to related material, and much more to help you learn to know, trust, apply and teach the Bible, go to www.bible805.com for now, let me end with this benediction and prayer.

May you walk each day surrounded by the gracious love of the Father and guided by the gentle wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and conscious of the astoundingly real presence of Jesus, who will walk with you until you're no more a hollow soul, no more a transient, wandering heart, but at home in the kingdom prepared for you with your God forever. Amen.