Coffee Mugs & Context Clues

6/16/2021

Written By: Debi Pierson

At the start of the year, I began a plan to read through the Bible, chronologically. We’ve been a church going family for 14+ years and I’ve yet to meet this goal. While I don’t intend for this submission to be a commercial for that podcast, I can’t resist the urge to share how it has completely changed my Bible study habits AND, big picture, how I think about what I read each day.

Prior to this plan, I’d hop around from one devotional source to another, maybe read a daily email with a topic and Scripture I could take some personal encouragement from. All FINE ways to get into God’s Word. My level of commitment would ebb and flow based on the seasons of my life and often the content. Yeah, I said it. If I didn’t enjoy the content (OF GOD’S WORD), if I couldn’t figure out how reading through genealogy, for example, applied to ME, my attention just wasn’t there. But I had a MAJOR (albeit slightly embarrassing) a-ha moment at the onset of this study. Ready for it?? The Bible isn’t about me. {Insert face-palm emoji}

From the beginning of my study plan, the leader made it clear that we aren’t treating God’s Word as a self-help book. Of course, there is plenty of help in it and application to everyday life, BUT this study is about one thing--looking for God in the Bible. {Do you hear the angel singing/major revelation sounds in the background? Just me?} I don’t know how your brain works in this regard, but for the last 14 years, I’m fairly sure I’ve treated nearly every study, every sermon, and any Scripture that fits on a coffee mug as an opportunity to fix me. (Real talk: more often than I should admit publicly, I’m probably thinking about how all those things can fix all the people around me…)

Each day’s reading starts off with a prayer that I really appreciate. I make the same five requests of God each day. Supplication number four is, “God, correct any lies I believe about you or anything I misunderstand.” From the onset, this has really resonated with me. It has also prompted me to pay more attention to the pretty pictures with clipped verses I’ve always loved to share on my social media pages. In an effort to just offer an encouraging word, I might be selling a verse short by not sharing more of the verse or offering some context. I might be completely using it wrong, and worst case—I use it (even if inadvertently) to further my own ideas. That entire, slightly embarrassing for a “mature” Christian, preamble leads to these three Scripture references that deserve more thought about what they say about GOD and not how they fix us.

1. First stop, those genealogies I already mentioned. I remember the first time I heard, “There isn’t a wasted word in the Bible.” Possibly rolled my eyes then, but now it finally makes sense to me that although maybe not the preferred art for a trendy Christian t-shirt, all those genealogies littered throughout the Old Testament and the two lists specific to Jesus in the books of Matthew and Luke are essential and revealing. They tell us two major things about WHO God is and what He loves. God keeps His promises. Sure, you’ve heard that a million times and you’ve declared it, hands raised during worship, but these detailed lists of names you’re tempted to gloss over, can only guess at the pronunciation of, are the evidence that when God makes a promise, He makes it happen. AND it shows that He isn’t afraid to use anyone—old men, evil kings, foreigners, prostitutes, or teenage virgins…to reach His desired outcome. Also, God loves the family structure. We need our families, as messed up as they are—in fact, BECAUSE they’re messed up, to help us understand our place of honor in God’s family. Does God need to fix me? Probably, but I know for sure based on these lists that He can use me, right now, broken as I am.

2. Psalm 46:10 is famously shortened to “Be still, and know that I am God.” For a mug’s sake, I’ve even seen it as just, “Be still…” Self-help at its finest for us control freaks, am I right? But this is

MORE than good advice for you and me. Interestingly, this Psalm switches from a third person voice in the first nine verses to God speaking directly in verse 10. Whom is God talking to when He goes on to say, “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”? An interesting commentary I read says to both Israel AND her enemies.

“When God tells them that he will be exalted among the nations, that he will be exalted in the earth he is flexing his muscle. He is reminding both Israel and the enemies that they’re fighting a losing battle and they ought to drop their weapons. Stop fighting against YHWH because it’s a foolish and losing battle. Instead make him your refuge.”

So, yes, do be still and cease striving before God, but also give Him plenty of room to flex because He is the boss of not just His people, but of the WHOLE EARTH.

3. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” MAN. THAT’S A GOOD ONE. If you’ve ever gone from being a couch potato to running a 5k or something more ambitious, you’ve probably memorized this verse to get you through a rough patch in the race. Does this verse mean that God actually gives us some kind of super-human strength to accomplish anything we set our minds to? Nope. But what Paul is sharing is the secret to contented living—sometimes, even when we’re losing or failing. Again, zoom out just a little and begin with verse 12, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” In this life, I will be hungry, I will be brought low, and I will be able to do THOSE things only because of Christ.

As I creep through the Bible chronologically in 2021, I’m truly so encouraged. I’ve had so many a-ha moments as I’ve committed to learning more about God. If you’re eager to take this approach too, find The Bible Recap on your favorite podcast provider and just get started. If you’re already doing something else you feel good about, at the very least, apply some of these questions to what you’re reading with a gentle reminder that the Bible isn’t your to do list, it is God’s love letter to His creation.

· What did you learn about God?

· What does He love?

· What does He hate?

· Why does He do what He does?

· What does He say about himself in this text?