Listening well to the baffling Bible
In my personal Bible reading I am doing the Bible in two years using the YouVersion App. I am deep in Deuteronomy and the Psalms at the moment, having triumphed over the graveyard of many attempts thwarted by Leviticus and Numbers. But the truth is, Deuteronomy and the Psalms are no less troubling or difficult to understand.
Just this morning as I was walking to church, I listened to Deuteronomy 21-22 and Psalm 108-111. I listened to laws about murderers, stray animals, women taken captive in war, birds and how to manage your will in the case of polygamy. I listened to delightful poetry extolling the glory of God but also pleas that God might smite David’s enemies with complete devastation.
It all finished with these words:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.” (Psalms 111:10)
In light of what I had read, this verse felt almost paradoxical in the extreme. I pondered to myself, what do I do in response to a collection of readings like this?
Well, Psalm 111:10 was helpfully instructive.
When we come to difficult parts of the Bible, one option is to excise them completely from our thinking and just move on to happier more familiar parts. But Jesus will not let us do this. He says, speaking of the Old Testament,
“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40)
Even these strange texts about birds, polygamy and enemies testify to Jesus. Psalm 111 tells us that all who follow his Word have good understanding. So we can’t excise or ignore any part of the Bible. We have to encounter it all as a good word from our good God who does all things for our good (Romans 8:28) including providing his word.
But that does not mean we take and do all things literally. This is the polar error to biblical excision; saying, “oh well, get out your rocks and cloths and let’s start manifesting justice” is just as foolish as ignoring the texts altogether. So what do we do?
Here are four tips for tough passages.
First, pray that God might reveal himself and his purposes to you despite the difficult texts. The promise of Jesus is that the Spirit of God will guide us into all truth - and the Spirit speaks by the word of God, about Jesus, to reveal the Father. So come humbly to God and pray that God would make himself and his desires for us clear to you by the Spirit as you read the word. It is easy to underplay this first tip. Please don’t. Pray more. Pray that God would attune your heart to his love revealed in his word in all its parts.
Second, remember the whole Bible is about Jesus (not you) so ask yourself, how might this testify to Jesus. Does it remind you of how glorious he is? How necessary he is? How gracious he is? Does it point at how sinful we humans are and how much we need a Saviour? Jesus is the centre of the Bible’s story. Passages that feel horrible often make more sense when we see how they prepare for or contrast with the mercy, justice, and fulfillment found in Christ.
Third, acknowledge the tension and weirdness and ask questions. It’s okay to say, “I find this hard. Baffling. Mysterious. Offensive.” Faith isn’t the absence of questions but trust in the midst of questions. Bring your concerns to God in prayer, discuss them with your growth group, reach out to one of the ministry team and study God’s word prayerfully and carefully. Scripture invites deep wrestling and many Psalms are raw prayers full of confusion and complaint. My mum would say, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water - just because you cannot understand the meaning of one bit does not mean the whole lot is nonsense. It just means we need to ask God to continue the work of transforming our minds (Romans 12:2). Keep in mind that Peter even found Paul’s writings hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16)!
Finally, the Bible shows a God who is holy, patient, just, and merciful, but this is revealed progressively, in different ways, over time. Moreover, our finite humanity means we can only see and understand in part; in eternity we will see in full (1 Corinthians 13:12). Sometimes the hard parts are meant to unsettle us, so we long for the better covenant fulfilled in Jesus and better hope given by Jesus. Keep reading toward the cross, where justice and mercy meet.
I am not sure how many times I have read the whole Bible but I can tell you this, despite having done so and having done some theological study, some of it still baffles me. But I actually take humble peace from that. For God is revealing himself to me through his word for my good and his glory; so I need to keep working at it to know him more beautifully and wonderfully. Bible reading is an uncomfortable whole of life pursuit.
As the writer to the Hebrews says:
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
