Digging deep into the Word...
This blog exists because of rabbit holes.
Not the muddy sort of holes that bunnies live in, nor the Alice in Wonderland type that lead to crazy adventures (though maybe a little of that). No, these rabbit holes are the ones where random thoughts and questions spiral into hours – sometimes days – of research and discovery. I’ve fallen down a lot of these rabbit holes over the years: some were inspirational, others devolved into nonsense, and most of them taught me something valuable.
So it wasn’t a big surprise when I started truly reading the Bible that I would find myself digging deep and searching for answers over nothing more than an odd choice of words or a vague explanation. Sometimes I find myself looking up translation notes or Hebrew idioms. Sometimes I will be distracted by archaeological or scientific proof of specific Biblical events or people. Sometimes I just don’t get why something is considered especially good or bad and end up researching the minutiae of certain customs in the relevant ancient cultures. No matter what tangent I end up on, I find it all fascinating.
This approach to reading the Bible is, I think, a fairly unusual one.
Most of the time, I see people talking about reading the whole Bible in a year (or even less – the shortest reading plan I’ve found took only 40 days!) In that regard, there are so many resources and reading plans to encourage a speedy zip through the scriptures. And though this is definitely not a bad thing, and I am neither discouraging it nor saying anything against those who enjoy following such plans, they can make one feel pressured to follow the crowd.
Look anywhere on the internet, and it seems like following a plan is the way that everybody is reading scripture. There are so many posts and videos about Bible reading plans that it is easy to forget that there is any other way to do it. Not everyone enjoys the rigid structure or the pressure to keep on track that is so helpful to so many others. It can make getting through the day’s chapters feel like a chore and quickly becomes disheartening when you fall behind. This has doubtlessly led to more than one person giving up on reading the Bible entirely – I know that I didn’t pick mine up outside of church for a good six months after my last attempt to follow a reading plan got too overwhelming.
I have a confession. I have not read the whole Bible cover to cover. Ever.
I have read many of the individual books completely, and large chunks of most of the rest. However, several times I have tried to read it from start to finish, and every single time I failed. Despite being an avid reader and fully capable of devouring huge books like The Lord of the Rings in less than a week, I just can’t seem to find the same levels of motivation when it comes to the Bible. I think that, for me, this is because the Bible is not a singular story with a beginning, middle, and end. There are many such stories, interspersed with letters and histories and poetry. It isn’t a singular book: as such, I just can’t focus my brain to keep reading through Genesis to Revelation in order. I get distracted; I start thinking of other stories that have similar themes and jumping around from book to book to compare them, or spending a solid six hours on research for a single chapter.
In reading this way, there are chunks that I’ve missed, genealogies and other less-than-thrilling lists and descriptions that I’ve skipped past, and oh so much wisdom that I have yet to discover. And I’m ok with that. I will get to those bits eventually – even if it takes me years to hopscotch my way through the scripures until I find my way to them. There is some method to my madness, and I do plan on delving into every part of every book eventually. I’m just in no rush to get there.
My progress through scripture might be slower than the average snail, but I have a much greater understanding of what I have read. I am pretty sure that I know all the important bits – the stories that make it into the abridged children’s Bibles and the popular sermons – and I have covered a lot of the lesser-known text, too. But I am no expert theologian. I’m just a busy mum who came back to the faith in her thirties and doesn’t have nearly enough time to spend in the Word (and until recently wasn’t trying that hard to find any).
Now that I have found joy and excitement in my Bible study, I want to know it all. As much as reading the whole text would help with this, and also make me feel accomplished, I know that it is not the best way for me to spend time in scripture. I don’t want to quickly read through each chapter, simply so that I can cross it off on a checklist. I don’t want to read the whole Bible just so that I can say that I have. I don’t want to end up with a general overview of the text and only vague memories of most of it. I want to read God’s word and let it nourish my soul – and I find that for me this happens when I let go of arbitrary timelines and reading order, and instead allow myself to spend time researching, discovering new layers, historical context, and deeper meaning.
And whenever I learn something new and interesting, I want to share it!
Most of the time, I end up sending the conclusions of my latest discoveries in the form of long-winded text messages to a dear friend. She recently suggested that I should start a podcast so that I can share with others, too. Since I am excruciatingly shy when it comes to recording myself in any format, as well as being pretty tech-phobic, I decided to start out in a way that feels comfortable and work myself up to speaking. Hence, this blog.
Also, my Bible is a crazy mess of notes. It will inevitably help me if I were to bring some of those thoughts together into something a little more cohesive and a lot more legible. I think that having a platform which allows me to share some of my interpretations and examinations of scripture will be a boon – even if it never reaches anyone outside of my church friends. If only to encourage me to keep reading, keep delving deep into the Word, and keep Christ foremost in my heart and mind.
If you have stumbled upon this blog and don’t already know me: welcome! I hope you will stick around, explore the Bible, and grow in faith with me.