I needed to think about this aphorism for a moment. "The Bible wasn't written to me?"
This statement, when I first heard it, gave me pause. I was a little uncomfortable with it at first. However, the second sentence puts it into perspective. "But the Bible was written for me."
When we read the Bible, we ought not read it to get a personal message from God. The Bible wasn't written that way. However, that doesn't mean the Bible does not have messages that can personally apply to us. In fact, God does communicate to us by giving us understanding of who He is, and what He desires — even what He desires for us.
When we read the Bible we are reading literature that was originally addressed to people who lived at that time. Much of the literature contains lessons and wisdom that are intended to be passed on to future generations, including us. But they were not written directly to us.
Because the Bible is not a single book, but a collection of books written by different human authors, at different times, in different locations, we have the obligation to consider each authors' manner of writing, each type of writing, each historical context, and each original audience as we read any text in Scripture. We must read it well, before gleaning meaning we can use. Otherwise, we will not understand what we are reading.
When we read the Bible well, we will glean what is intended for us to glean. (And perhaps avoid reading into it what we want to get out of it.) And in doing this well, we will hear from God.
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