Saturday, April 14, 2018

Reading the Bible Prayerfully

This is the third installment from Eugene Peterson's book A Long Obedience In The Same Direction, about reading the bible slowly. In this post consider what he writes about reading the bible prayerfully.
We are taught to read in order to gather information. Our schools train us to read books so that we can pass examinations. We’re good at looking for facts. ‘Knowledge is power,’ they tell us. Books contain stuff that we can use to get a degree, fix an engine, hold down a job, solve a mystery. But the Bible is not primarily a source of information; it is one of the primary ways that God uses to speak to us. ‘God’s Word’ we call it, which is to say, God’s voice – God speaking to us, inviting, promising, blessing, confronting, commanding, healing. The Bible is not so much God telling us some thing – some idea, some fact, some rule – as God speaking life into us. Are we listening? Are we answering? Bible reading is prayed reading. Long Obedience In the Same Direction, Eugene H. Peterson, 2000

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