Devotional for Saturday and Sunday May 5-6

Our theme for this month: “Knowing God”

Our Bible verse for today: “I have sought you with all my heart; don’t let me wander from your commands. I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.” Psalm 119:10-11 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “God is incomprehensible and yet He can be known.”

This morning I want to continue our discussion from yesterday about the incomprehensibility of God. As we learned yesterday, there is far more to God than our human understanding can possibly come to terms with. There is much about Him that is, and which will remain, a mystery to us. But for all the reasons explained yesterday, the mystery is a good thing not a bad thing. God delights in progressively revealing more and more of the mystery about Himself to us as we continue to seek Him.

The primary way God reveals Himself to us is through the Bible. The Bible is more than just words on paper. It is a supernatural book divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit and infused with insights which can only be discerned spiritually. Part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to give us spiritual understanding so that as we seek God, as we diligently study His word, our mind will be opened and we will gain deeper glimpses into the person of God. Therefore how often and how effectively we study the Bible determines to a very great degree how much, how well, and how accurately, we come to comprehend God.

The great Bible teacher J.I. Packer offers these four simple guidelines for effectively using the Bible to progressively learn more and more about God:

1. Pray. Remember that you are in the presence of God, reading the Word of God, and you need the Spirit of God to give you understanding. So pray before, during, and after your Bible reading.
2. Read the whole Bible. Packer urges us to be familiar with what he calls “the full landscape of the Bible”. Read it everyday, read it cover-to-cover, and when you’re done, read it again.
3. Give special attention and focus to the richer books. All the books of the Bible are important and helpful, but not all the books are equally important and helpful. Leviticus is helpful to us for a variety of reasons, but it pales in compassion to the importance of the Gospel of John. Packer urges us to read the entire Bible, but to give special attention to the Gospels and to the Psalms.
4. Linger in those books that have a special resonance with you at this time in your life. If you’re struggling with maintaining sound doctrine, then you will want to spend extra time in Romans. If you need to put some feet to your faith, then go visit James for a while. If you just need some extra time in worship, the Psalms would be a good place to spend some time.

God is incomprehensible to a very large degree. But He has revealed Himself to us in different ways and to varying degrees. His primary means of self-revelation is through the Bible and so that’s where we need to spend most of our time looking for Him.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

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