I am astounded on how much I learn on a daily basis of the bible. Although I am retired for the last year, I have continued my thirst for the word. My thirst before retirement was as just as thirsty when I was a working man in the world.
It is that thirst that drives me each day that I wake up to drink all I can. But is there anyone else out there the same way as I, that cannot sleep because they are thinking why did God do this to the people of Israel, or why Paul confronted Peter in Antioch? It’s that desire to ‘know’ God. Period. Either God doesn’t want me to sleep or I have a serious problem of thinking to much! Or it could be both?
God and or God’s word should be on our minds constantly as it says in the scriptures with the “pray without ceasing”, meaning that we should be talking to God all thru the day with our creator and author. It is this mindset that will get christianity on its way of ‘seeing’ and ‘knowing’ Him as He really is. God’s desire is one that started from the beginning of his desire of his creation and that mankind would be walking in His Garden again with Him. Walking and talking, living with your creator, what more could anyone ask for?
I was once asked how long should it take to ‘read’ the bible? I was referencing the aspect of most church’s that push the infamous one year or two year plan of reading the bible, when I suggest that I believe that it would probably take 50 years to actually ‘read’ it in the way that it should be understood. It is that proverbial saying that we do when we read a verse and say “I didn’t see that before”! It is that reading and re-reading things that build upon itself to see the ‘real’ understanding of God’s wisdom.
Another insight that I would suggest to the very newcomer of literature of the bible, is to start at the beginning, just as you would with any novel. The bible is a narrative by God thru man to tell His story of his creation and the journey that they take together. It is the journey of God that starts us with the eternal purpose of His. It is LIFE and filled with abundance.
The Eternal Purpose 