Christian Living: Bible Reading
Why Read the Bible Daily: Reasons 8 & 9
I’m sure there are more, but here are the last two reasons we will suggest as motivations for reading our Bibles daily:
- Bible Reading Increases Our Trust In God.
Learning to trust God, to be at peace, is a lifelong process but it is a growing process when we read and believe God’s word. Learning to be at rest in troubling times, to have positive expectations of God’s help at other times, and to have assurance that God is with us, requires familiarity with, and application of, the Bible. As we read the Bible, we see that he is a God who can be trusted. We see that he is utterly sovereign. We see there is no limit to his power and that he governs all things both good and evil. We see he is full of compassion, that he has a purpose in everything, that his ultimate goal for us in everything is glorious. We also see that when we do not understand what God is doing, it is because his thoughts are higher than ours and his ways infinitely greater. As we read biblical history, we see how things that made no sense to characters back then (such as the crucifixion of Jesus) now make complete sense from our vantage point. We learn to trust, even in the dark.
Our greatest reason to trust God, we discover, is God’s revealed plan to give up his own Son to purchase our salvation, a salvation that ultimately gives us total victory. “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:31b-32). Reading our Bibles sustains our confidence that our ultimate and total victory is guaranteed by God himself.
- Bible Reading Gives Us Promises from God.
Christians, universally, find strength and direction from the many promises God gives us in the Bible. We memorize them. Sometimes we hang those promises on the walls of our homes as reassuring reminders of what God says, and they give us strength. Shortly after our daughter died and thoughts of her easily brought tears to our eyes, my wife saw a plaque in a store that now sits on our kitchen wall. We did not understand why God allowed Denae to suffer as she did but this plaque said something the Bible assures us is true. “God has a vision far greater than my sight.” God knows why he allowed our daughter’s suffering, even if we don’t. Our journey with God as we read our Bibles and hold on to his promises has helped our faith to grow so that even in the dark, we trust him.
The promises of God give us courage to take risks we would not otherwise take, to have peace in times of uncertainty, to do what we’d otherwise not do and to refrain from doing what we would otherwise do. The healthiest, strongest, most vibrant Christians are those who live by the promises of God. There are no exceptions.