Seek After God Through The Bible

“Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.” – Charles Spurgeon

Have you ever experienced looking for your Bible, but not being able to find it? The problem is that you have not needed it for some time and you can’t find it even though you looked in all the places you thought it would be. Shrugging your shoulders you continue looking and eventually you find it on a shelf. You take it from it’s place and notice a layer of dust on it. Once the dust was off, you opened it and the marked passages are a reminder of the times you spent immersed in the Bible. You wonder when and how you got away from spending quality time in God’s word.

There is a difference between being steeped in the Bible and occasionally reading it. If your exposure to the Bible happens only in church on Sunday, you will get only snippets. Sometimes those snippets are right on target for what is happening in your life and sometimes the verses covered simply don’t hit home to you. Immersing yourself in Scripture is different than “reading the Bible.” The Bible is something much more powerful than just another book, newspaper, or magazine. This is the written Word of God – God speaking to us. Immersing yourself, however, means experiencing the verse in such a way that it becomes a part of you.

An example of this is how Daniel Day Lewis immersed himself in Abraham Lincoln. In preparation for playing Lincoln in a movie, Lewis immersed himself in information about Lincoln, reading everything he could find, talking to the foremost experts on the man. For a year he dressed like Lincoln, he walked like Lincoln; he even raised the pitch of his own speaking voice to sound more like Lincoln. Not just when he was on the set, but all day, every day. To the extent that it was possible, Daniel Day Lewis became Abraham Lincoln. But as difficult as it is to become Abraham Lincoln, it is impossible to become God, but immersing ourselves in the Bible enables us to be more like Jesus.

So spend time with God and immersing yourself in His word. Whether it is chapters or one verse, doesn’t matter; the immersion matters. If you want to get closer to God and don’t know how, just get in the Word. If you feel far from God and don’t know how to start again and don’t have much desire to even begin again, read Psalms. Immersing yourself in the Bible will give you that solid foundation for when life is good, when life isn’t so good, and for when people are looking to belittle you for your faith.

Psalms 1:1-3 says: “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.”

Discussion Questions:

What does immersing yourself in the Bible mean to you?
What do we need to do differently in order to spend more time in God’s word?