What to Do When Its Hard to Read My Bible

Why can the Bible exist so difficult to understand?

The Bible is a book full of spiritual riches that can make u.s. wise unto salvation, train us to live godly lives, and equip us for ministry (2 Timothy 3:14-17). It is likewise the earth's all-fourth dimension bestseller–and the best-selling book in every twelvemonth that sales have been recorded.

Nonetheless, the task of reading the Bible can experience like putting together a massive jigsaw puzzle. As you read Scripture, yous inevitably run across something you don't understand and inquire a variety of questions.

Who are the Amalekites? Why does God command us to launder and then much in Leviticus? Who are the Pharisees and how practice they touch on me? What do the seals and trumpets mean in Revelation?

Many questions similar these show that the Bible can be confusing. Why is the Bible so hard to sympathize?

9 Factors that Make Reading the Bible Hard

1. Chronology

The Bible was written between almost two and iii g years ago. Times accept changed since Moses parted the Reddish Sea and David ruled as king over State of israel. Understanding the historical setting of the Bible and specific book yous are reading tin greatly help yous bridge the gap betwixt and so and now. If nosotros don't starting time empathize what the Bible meant to its original audience, we volition not faithfully interpret it in our 21st-century context.

two. Culture

The biblical authors wrote to distinctive groups of people in distinctive places throughout the ancient world. The Bible often assumes readers know specific cultural details and use the details to teach a lesson. For example, the woman at the well in John 4 might not spring off the page to a 21st-century American reader. A Jew around the fourth dimension of Christ would have seen how Jesus crossed cultural taboos by talking to a Samaritan woman who was rejected fifty-fifty by her ain people, and revealed Himself equally the Messiah promised to her forefathers.

3. Language

The 66 books of the Bible were originally written in Hebrew (nearly of the Old Testament with a little Aramaic) and aboriginal Greek (the New Attestation). The nature of languages makes direct translation sometimes difficult. The original language might have words to express something crucial to the story that a receiving language may not accept. Today we accept many dedicated scholars who faithfully translate God'due south Discussion into modern languages. Your Bible might even take small footnotes describing different ways a passage could be worded in Hebrew or Greek. While language is not normally a major obstacle for reading a modern translation, it can be an effect when studying the original language at a deeper level.

4. Scripture communicates spiritual truths

i Corinthians two:14 says, "The natural person does not take the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to sympathize them because they are spiritually discerned." Our natural minds oftentimes struggle with what nosotros cannot see and what is not easy to understand. This is one reason why God illustrates many spiritual truths with everyday things wedo understand like God as our Father and our need to be "built-in again." Nosotros can have heart that even the apostle Peter had a tough time understanding some of what Paul wrote (see 2 Peter three:xvi)!

5. Sin

Our sin separates united states from God and blinds us to spiritual reality–making reading and understanding the Bible more hard. When nosotros come to Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit who helps us in our fight confronting sin and besides reveals the truth of Scripture to us (John fourteen:26). As we grow in holiness and are taught God's Word through faithful study and the Spirit's assist, nosotros will grow in our comprehension and delight in His Discussion.

six. Non knowing how the Bible storyline fits together

If a new Christian reads the volume of Genesis, they may ask themselves, "Why should I care virtually a promise God made to Abraham thousands of years ago?" The reason is because God'due south promise applies to us today in Jesus Christ. Understanding the Bible's storyline and its great themes (often called the discipline of biblical theology) allow y'all to trace the evolution of themes across the timeline of Bible history and empathize how each office of the Bible ultimately has its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

vii. Weak reading comprehension skills.

Much of today's communication is done through sound bites, tweets, and other forms of multimedia communication. People don't read carefully anymore because they don't have to, which makes reading the Bible (and other forms of literature) difficult. Learning unproblematic techniques like looking for repeated words, asking skillful questions of the text, and keeping a close center on context will empower readers to make helpful observations that volition bring the pregnant of Scripture to life.

Pastors: you have the opportunity to model faithful Bible reading and interpretation in your ministry and from the pulpit. Don't forcefulness your flock to depend simply on hearing the Word in a sermon but rather equip them to report the Word from the pulpit and by grooming them in the Give-and-take.

eight. Not knowing how to read the genres of the Bible.

You don't read the editorial department of the newspaper the same style you read the comics or advertisements. You accommodate your thinking to the type of content you are reading. The same is true with the Bible: historical narratives should be treated differently than poesy and the apocalyptic literature of the Bible should be treated differently than New Testament letters.

9. Not working difficult at understanding the Bible.

God knows that understanding the Bible takes work and prayer, but so ofttimes we want quick benefits from the Bible without putting in the necessary labor. A famous preacher once said that any truthful devotional reading of Scripturehas to care about understanding what the text is actually saying to truly be devotional. Information technology would be like a hubby trying to show honey to his wife simply not trying to understand what she was saying.

In ii Timothy 2:15, Paul writes to Timothy to tell him that he is to work hard in his study, "Do your best to present yourself to God every bit one canonical, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly treatment the give-and-take of truth." Paul knows that a failure to work diligently at studying the Word can brand people mishandle the Word and miss out on God's approval.

How can we suspension downwards these barriers?

To break downwards these barriers, you don't an advanced PhD degree in the Bible or a time machine to go back to Bible times (although, it wouldn't hurt 😉 ). There is much in the Bible nosotros tin can empathise today if we would merely pick it up and read!

God didn't brand His Give-and-take besides difficult for united states to understand or write it solely for the original recipients. God'due south Word is forour educational activity andour encouragement besides. Romans 15:4 says,

"For whatever was written in onetime dayswas written for our didactics, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptureswe might have hope" (emphasis added).

If reading the Bible is difficult for you, approach study prayerfully with a willing and apprehensive heart. God will help you and reward your effort.

In your Bible reading, seek to encounter the Living Christ and find life in Him (John 5:39-40). God promises that His Word won't render to Him void (Isaiah 55:xi). Dedicate yourself to become a person of the Word by studying it, obeying information technology, and treasuring it more than than you treasure gilded and silvery (Psalm 119:72). God will reveal Himself to you in a powerful mode.

May God richly bless your study of the Scriptures!

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Source: https://www.kevinhalloran.net/9-factors-that-make-reading-the-bible-difficult/

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