Reading a Book You Don’t Understand

The Book on the Shelf

There’s a good chance you have a Bible somewhere in your house right now. On a shelf. In a drawer. In a box in the closet. Grandma’s big black one with the ribbons and the family names in the front. A little pocket one somebody handed you at a funeral. A hotel Gideon from a rough night in a Motel 6 twenty years ago. Maybe a nice one with your name on it that somebody gave you when you got baptized as a kid and you haven’t opened since.

You know it’s important. You feel a little guilty that you don’t read it. But every time you actually try, one of three things happens.

You open to page one and start reading Genesis. It’s fine for a while. Then you hit a bunch of names you can’t pronounce. Then Leviticus shows up and it’s all about bulls and blood and rules about mildew, and you quit.

Or you close your eyes and flip open to a random page hoping God will show you something, and you land in the middle of Ezekiel and there are wheels within wheels and creatures with four faces and you close the Bible slowly and put it back on the shelf.

Or you actually try to read it seriously, but the language is from 1611. Verily verily, wherefore art thou. You spend twenty minutes on one paragraph and give up because you feel dumb.

If any of that sounds like you, this paper is for you.

The Bible is not supposed to feel like a locked box. It is supposed to feel like your Father talking to you. Last week we talked about how you talk to Him. This week we talk about how you hear Him back.

Get your coffee. Sit down. Let’s crack this thing open.

Why It Feels So Hard

Before we get to the practical part, we have to name why the Bible feels impossible for most of us. Because it’s not because you’re stupid. It’s not because you’re not spiritual enough. There are real reasons, and they’re not your fault.

One. It’s not really one book. It’s a library. Sixty-six books, written over about 1,500 years, by more than 40 different people, in three different languages, on three continents. When you open the Bible, you are not opening a novel. You are walking into a library with poetry, history, letters, prophecy, wisdom, and biography all on the same shelf. If nobody tells you that, you will pick a book at random and get lost.

Two. The order isn’t the reading order. Nobody tells you this, but the Bible is not arranged in the order you should read it. It’s arranged by type. Long books first, short books later. So starting at page one and reading straight through is not how any pastor would ever tell you to start. It’s like handing somebody the Encyclopedia Britannica and telling them to start with volume A.

Three. The translation might be fighting you. If your Bible sounds like Shakespeare, that’s because it was translated when Shakespeare was alive. King James English was normal in 1611. It is not normal now. That does not make it wrong. But it does mean you are doing double work every time you read it. The New Living Translation — the one we quote every week in these papers — was written in plain modern English on purpose, so you can read it the way you talk.

Four. Nobody ever showed you. Reading the Bible is a learned skill, like reading music or reading blueprints. It looks easy when somebody who knows how to do it does it. But if nobody sat down with you and showed you, you have been guessing your whole life. That’s not your failure. That’s just what happens when nobody teaches you.

Those are real reasons. Now let’s fix them.

What the Bible Actually Is

Before you open it Thursday morning, you need to know what you’re opening.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”

— 2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)

Notice what Paul says the Bible is for. Four things. To teach you what’s true. To show you what’s wrong in your life. To correct you when you’re off. To teach you how to live right. That’s it. It is not a magic book. It is not a puzzle to decode. It is a Father’s letter to His kids, showing them the truth and how to live in it.

“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

— Psalm 119:105 (NLT)

That’s the picture. A lamp. Not a floodlight that shows you your whole future. A lamp — enough light for the next step. That’s what the Bible does. It shows you what you need for today. Not everything you might ever wonder. Just today.

And this one, which changes everything about how you read it:

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”

— Hebrews 4:12 (NLT)

Alive. The word of God is not dead paper. It is alive. When you open it, something is looking back at you. That’s why a verse you read a hundred times can suddenly hit you like a truck on a Tuesday morning. The Spirit is working through the words. You are not just reading a book. You are being read.

Where to Actually Start

This is the practical part. Skip everything else in the paper if you have to, but read this.

Do not start at Genesis 1. Everybody tries to. Almost everybody quits by Leviticus. That’s not your fault. Genesis is a great book, but it is not the doorway.

Start with the Gospel of Mark. Mark is the shortest of the four books in the New Testament that tell the story of Jesus. It is also the fastest. Mark does not spend time on philosophy or long speeches. He shows you Jesus doing things. Jesus gets baptized, calls His disciples, heals a man with a skin disease nobody would touch, casts out a demon, sits down to eat with people the religious folks looked down on — and He does all that in the first two chapters. It reads more like a newspaper than a sermon.

“This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.”

— Mark 1:1 (NLT)

That is the opening line. No warm-up. No introduction. Straight to it. Mark was written down by a man who traveled with Peter — yes, the same Peter we keep talking about in these papers. So when you read Mark, you are reading the story of Jesus the way Peter told it. If you have to pick one book of the Bible to start with, this is it. Sixteen short chapters. Two weeks of reading. And by the end you will have watched Jesus in action — healing, forgiving, confronting, dying, and rising — with your own eyes.

Read one chapter a day. Don’t rush. Don’t skim. Just one chapter — most of them are short — and see what jumps out. In two weeks you will know Jesus better than most people at any church you have ever been to.

After Mark, try one of these:

John. Another book about Jesus. Longer than Mark, slower, deeper. Mark shows you what Jesus did. John tells you who Jesus is. Read Mark first, then read John and it will hit different — because you will already have seen the Jesus that John is telling you about.

The Psalms. 150 short chapters, most of them one page or less. Half of them are songs of praise. Half of them are men groaning at God, complaining, crying, scared, confused, angry — and God let them into the Bible anyway. If you have ever felt like you were the only one who felt what you feel, read the Psalms. You will meet men from 3,000 years ago who felt exactly what you feel now.

Proverbs. 31 short chapters, one for each day of the month. Practical wisdom about money, relationships, work, temper, laziness, marriage, and everything else. If you want a Bible book that talks about the way you actually live your life, read one chapter of Proverbs a day and match it to the date.

Do not start with Revelation, Leviticus, Numbers, Ezekiel, or Daniel. Not because they’re bad. They’re not. But they are for later, when you have more of the story in you. Start with the parts that meet you where you are.

How to Actually Read It

Here is a simple method that works. It’s older than you and me. Slow down. Do one chapter a day, not more. You are not trying to finish. You are trying to hear.

Here are five things to try as you read. You don’t have to do all five every time. But if you’re stuck, this will help.

One. Pray before you open it. One sentence. Father, show me one thing today. That’s it. You are asking Him to be in the reading with you. He will.

Two. Read the whole chapter, not just a random verse. Verses out of context are how people twist the Bible. Read the whole thing. Get the flow. You will understand ten times more.

Three. Look for what stands out. As you read, a verse or a sentence will often catch your attention. Something will grab you. Do not skip past it. That’s often the Spirit pointing at something for you. Read that verse again. Slower. Say it out loud.

Four. Ask three questions. What does this say about God? What does this say about people? What does this say about how I should live? If you can answer even one of those from a chapter, you have read the Bible well.

Five. Talk to Him about what you read. Go back to what we said last week. Prayer is talking to your Father. Once you’ve read the chapter, close the book and talk to Him about what you read. God, this part hit me. Help me live it today. That is how the Bible actually changes a life. Not by reading. By reading and then bringing it into conversation with Him.

What About the Parts I Don’t Understand?

You will run into things you don’t understand. Everybody does. Even pastors do. Even scholars who have spent their whole lives on this book run into parts they can’t fully explain.

Here is what to do when that happens.

Do not panic. The Bible is not a test. You are not being graded. You do not have to understand every verse to be transformed by the ones you do.

Do not force it. If a chapter is confusing, keep reading. Move to the next one. Come back to it later. Some things become clear months or years later, not when you first read them. That’s normal.

Ask somebody. This is a good time for the one other person from a couple weeks back. Or somebody at the donut shop. Or a trusted pastor. Or a study Bible with notes. You are not supposed to figure the whole thing out alone. The church has been reading this book for 2,000 years. There are people who have already worked through most of the confusing parts. Ask.

Trust the clear parts. Here is a simple rule. There is enough clear in the Bible to keep you busy for the rest of your life. Don’t get stuck on the hard parts and miss the clear ones. Jesus said love God, love your neighbor. That’s clear. Start there.

“Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

— Matthew 13:9 (NLT)

Jesus said that a lot. He was not looking for the smartest people. He was looking for people who would actually listen. That is you. That is enough.

One Chapter, Every Day

Here is the whole paper in one sentence.

Read one chapter of the Bible, every day, starting with Mark, and talk to God about what you read.

That’s it. If you did just that, and nothing else, for the next year, you would be a different person. Not because you tried harder. Because the alive-and-powerful word of God does what nothing else on earth can do to a person who lets it in.

You do not need a plan that takes you through the whole Bible in a year. You do not need a program. You do not need an app, though there are good ones. You need a Bible you can actually read, one chapter, and five minutes.

If you don’t have an NLT Bible, ask at the donut shop. There is almost always one someone can give you. Or download the YouVersion app on your phone — it’s free — and pick NLT from the translation list. Same book, in your pocket, no shelf required.

Then Thursday morning, before you get out of bed, before you check your phone, before the day starts eating you — open to Mark 1. Read the first chapter. Ask the Father to show you one thing. And listen.

He is going to talk back to you. Maybe not with a voice. Maybe with a verse that will not let go of you all day. Maybe with a peace you cannot explain. Maybe with a slow shift in the way you see something. But He will talk. Because when you open His word, He shows up.d

The book has been waiting for you. Time to open it.

TAKE IT WITH YOU

One thought.  The Bible is not a locked box. It is your Father talking to you. Start with the Gospel of Mark, one chapter a day, and let Him show up.

One question.  Where is your Bible right now? If you don’t know, that’s your first step this week — find it, or get one. Ask at the donut shop.

One step.  This week, read Mark chapter 1. Just chapter 1. Ask the Father to show you one thing. Then talk to Him about what stood out. Tomorrow, chapter 2. Keep going until you finish Mark. Then come back and tell somebody at the table what you saw.