The counselee enters the counseling room somewhat depressed and dejected. The counselor greets her warmly.
Counselor: Hello. I’m happy to see you. Have a seat. So, how’d the homework go this week?
Counselee: OK
Counselor: How’d you do with the Bible homework? Were you able to read it? Journal about it?
Counselee: Yes.
Counselor: So, was it helpful?
Counselee: No.
Counselor: Hmmm. That’s not what I wanted to hear. Did you understand the passage? Do you have questions about it?
Counselee: No, I think I understand it. It’s just not what I’m looking for. It didn’t address my problem.
Counselor: It didn’t?
Counselee: No. You want me to read the book of John and understand the life of Jesus but that’s got nothing to do with my situation. I just want an answer to my problem. Do you have any verses for my situation?
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I recently polled some millennials and gen Zers to see what reading genre/category they thought the Bible was in. Their answers varied. They thought the Bible was a good book, a help manual, an encyclopedia, a rule book of sorts. I yearned to hear something akin to, ‘the Bible is a book where God is trying to communicate to HIS people.’ That was a stretch for them.
In the narrative above, this counselor was hoping that her counselee too would see that God’s word offered more than a ‘book A-chapter 3-verse 2’ answer. The Bible is a book understood inside the context of a relationship. This idea is difficult to explain and relay to a struggling counselee. And the struggling counselee is not alone!
When I was a teenager, I struggled to read books outside of the instructional manual category. I could read books with a normative formula. I would read the formula, glance at the formula rules, familiarize myself with the variables and then plug and chug. If the book tried to explain variances or exceptions, my brain clouded over. I had no place to put that type of information and felt that I had no need for it.
I treated the Bible in a similar fashion. I tried to read it like a road map or good set of directions. Step 1, step 2, etc. There was one key element that was missing in my reading explorations: The Bible is not simply an expository manual. It is so much more than a list of imperatives. It is no less, but it is far more. Here is what I believe was the mysterious missing link for me: I had no idea that the Bible was trying to have a conversation with me. The Bible is trying to discuss God’s thoughts with me. Categorically, if I just read 1 or 2 verses a day, then I do know what the Bible says. But if I read God’s word daily, immersing myself in and making friends with the text, then I start to learn how God thinks. This is a big deal! This is the secret to understanding how to live and handle problems biblically.
As a teen, I was constantly reading books, waiting to reach that one sentence that would make sense of it all. In my mind I was fighting to get past the preliminary introductory thoughts and onto the meat of the text. ‘Just give me the main idea, in one—at most, two—bites,’ I was thinking. But there are times when the main idea is not neatly formed and packaged. Sometimes the main idea takes more words than one sentence can contain. The big idea needs development that comes from a comparison, an explanation, a story. Sometimes the author is struggling to communicate concepts that cannot be contained in a one-sentence summation.
In a one-sentence summation, what am I saying?
I was in a hurry to consume the key thought—a nugget, but the text was trying to slow me down in order to reveal its deep treasures. Again, the book wanted to have a conversation with me. I believe that is the same for the Bible. God wants to have a conversation with his people through His word. It’s not a quick-step process.
Today, believers don’t take advantage of their Bible-reading privileges, and yesterday the God-fearing people also read beneath their privilege. Consider this passage from the history of Acts:
“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.” Acts 13:26-28
How could they not understand the truths that were uttered every Sabbath? And even sadder, they could not even recognize the Lord. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Surprisingly, that’s easier said than done.
Oh, how I wish I could slow the counselee down so she could hear the word of the Lord. She sees it as a book of answers rather than a source of life. She, along with many saints, has become an illiterate Bible reader. Having eyes, but not seeing; having ears but not hearing. Often the counselee fails in seeing three key principles: the Bible incorporates all genres of reading, the Bible engages conversation with us, and the Bible reveals God’s nature and purpose, not just prescriptions.
First, the Bible is the book of books in its medium. It is God’s voice through poetry, history, analysis, instructions, fact sheets, and narratives. You have to spend time with it to hear the voice correctly.
Second, the Bible is the book of books in its communication. The application is not intended to be robotic as if you just open your human disc slot and insert a Bible verse. God is talking to His people. The code for life is to be understood through a conversation, not a list of how-tos.
Third and last, the Bible is the book of books in its scope. Though there are lists of commandments, there are likewise reflections on God’s nature and design. It is descriptive as well as prescriptive. As we see Him unfold who He is, who we are, and what He wants, our love and understanding deepens. There is an indescribable peace in this type of growth.
Let’s work harder as counselors to first not just read the words on the page, but absorb the thoughts of the AUTHOR. Then we can direct our counselees to not just see it as a systematic handbook but also like a conversation on a country road with grandpa.
If the counselor can overlook the pushback and help her see this, then, through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures, the counselee might find answers and have more hope (Romans 15:4).
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