“For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.” (Deu. 32:47).
The Christian should take time to get the most out of their bible reading. Who wants to waste their time, especially in such an important spiritual exercise as personal devotions? It is our life.
Thomas Watson said, “”The Holy Scripture is a golden epistle sent to us from God!”
What steps, then, can we take to improve our time of profit in reading?
1. Remove hindrances. (a) remove the love of every sin (b) remove the distracting concerns of this world, especially covetousness [Matt. 13:22] (c) Don’t make jokes with and out of Scripture.
2. Prepare your heart. [1 Sam. 7:3] Do this by: (a) collecting your thoughts (b) purging unclean affections and desires (c) not coming to it rashly or carelessly.
3. Read it with reverence, considering that each line is God speaking directly to you.
4. Read the books of the Bible in order.
5. Get a true understanding of Scripture. [Ps. 119:73] This is best achieved by comparing relevant parts of Scripture with each other.
6. Read with seriousness. [Deut. 32:47] The Christian life is to be taken seriously since it requires striving [Luke 13:24] and not falling short [Heb. 4:1].
7. Persevere in remembering what you read. [Ps. 119:52] Don’t let it be stolen from you [Matt. 13:4,19]. If it doesn’t stay in your memory it is unlikely to be much benefit to you.
8. Meditate on what you read. [Ps. 119:15] The Hebrew word for meditate’ means to be intense in the mind’. Meditation without reading is wrong and bound to err; reading without meditation is barren and fruitless. It means to stir the affections, to be warmed by the fire of meditation [Ps. 39:3].
9. Read with a humble heart. Acknowledge that you are unworthy that God should reveal himself to you [James 4:6]
10. Believe it all to be God’s Holy Word. [2 Tim 3:16] We know that no sinner could have written it because of the way it describes sin. No saint could blaspheme God by pretending his own Word was God’s. No angel could have written it for the same reason. [Heb 4:2]
11. Prize the Bible highly. [Ps. 119:72] It is your lifeline; you were born by it [James 1:18] you need to grow by it [1 Pet 2:2] [cf. Job 23:12].
12. Love the Bible ardently [Ps. 119:159].
13. Come to read it with an honest heart. [Luke 8:15] (a) Willing to know the entire and complete will of God (b) reading in order to be changed and made better by it [John 17:17].
14. Apply to yourself everything that you read, take every word as spoken to yourself. Its condemnation of sins as the condemnation of your own sin; the duty that it requires as the duty God would require from you [2 Kings 22:11].
15. Pay close attention to the commands of the Word as much as the promises. Think of how you need direction just as much as you need comfort.
16. Don’t get carried away with the minor details, rather make sure to pay closest attention to the great things [Hosea 8:12].
17. Compare yourself with the Word. How do you compare? Is your heart something of a transcript of it, or not?
18. Pay special attention to those passages that speak to your individual, particular and present situation. e.g. (a) Affliction — [Heb. 12:7, Isaiah 27:9, John 16:20, 2 Cor 4:17. (b) Sense of Christ’s presence and smile withdrawn — [Isaiah 54:8, Isaiah 57:16, Ps. 97:11] (c) Sin — [Gal 5:24, James 1:15, 1 Peter 2:11, Prov 7:10&22-23, Prov 22:14] (d) Unbelief — [Isaiah 26:3, 2 Sam 22:31, John 3:15, 1 John 5:10, John 3:36]
19. Pay special attention to the examples and lives of people in the Bible as living sermons. (a) Punishments [Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, Num 25:3-4&9, 1 Kings 14:9-10, Acts 5:5,10, 1 Cor 10:11, Jude 7] (b) mercies and deliverances [Daniel, Jeremiah, the 3 youths in the fiery furnace]
20. Don’t stop reading the Bible until you find your heart warmed. [Ps 119:93] Let it not only inform you but also inflame you [Jer 23:29, Luke 24:32].
21. Put into practice what you read [Ps 119:66, Ps 119:105, Deut 17:19].
22. Christ is for us Prophet, Priest and King. Make use of His office as a Prophet [Rev 5:5, John 8:12, Ps 119:102-103]. Get Christ not only to open the Scriptures up to you, but to open up your mind and understanding [Luke 24:45]
23. Make sure to put yourself under a true ministry of the Word, faithfully and thoroughly expounding the Word [Prov 8:34] be earnest and eager in waiting on it.
24. Pray that you will profit from reading [Isaiah 48:17, Ps 119:18, Nehemiah 9:20].
Sometimes, Christians have natural obstacles to reading with profit. Have you ever felt that way? Have you thought that your devotional time is not as rich as other people you might hear talking about their studies in church? Don’t despair, you may still be able to profit from reading even though:
1. You don’t seem to profit as much as others do. Remember the different yields [Matt 13:8] though the yield isn’t as much as others it is still a true and fruitful yield.
2. You may feel slow of understanding [Luke 9:45, Heb 5:11].
3. Your memory is bad (a) remember you are still able to have a good heart despite this (b) you may still remember the most important things even if you cannot remember everything, be encouraged by John 14:26. Thomas Watson, How to Profit from Reading Your Bible
Contemplation:
O Lord, I prize and love your precepts. I desire to be a lover of learning that I might be a scholar of your word. Your Word is sweeter than the honey which drops from the comb. I find no contentment, but in a corner, with the book of God in my hand. I take, O Lord, infinite pleasure in reading the book of life!
There is more than enough in the Word to breed holy pleasure and delight in me. It is a demonstration of your holy love to me. Your Spirit is a love-token to me and the Word is his love-letter to me. I so rejoice in the written Word since it is a divine treasury and storehouse. In it I find scattered truth as pearls, to adorn my inner man and my heart. The written Word is the true manna for me, which has all sorts of sweet taste in it.
I delight in your Word for it causes me profit, and I must not only love the comforts of the Word—but the reproofs. Myrrh is bitter to the palate—but good for the stomach.In your Word I delight to see all its wonder, and all the majesty of God and Christ.
