The problem⤒🔗

"No sooner do I sit down and open the Bible than my mind wanders. And even when I do manage to read a bit, I don't seem to be able to get anything out of it. I usually don't understand it and even when I do, it doesn't speak to me and when I put the Bible down, I feel empty. At times I just think it's not worth trying to read; at other times, I feel like a hypocrite. How can I improve things?"

The remedy←⤒🔗

Ah! that's a problem coming from you to me, which if we can solve together is going to help us both!

Many Christians have the twin problem of how to main­tain times of prayer and how to study the Scriptures ade­quately. Prayer and Bible reading are interrelated — that's important to remember when you ask the question "How can I improve things?" As well as concern for your Bible reading, how's your prayer life?

You seem deeply concerned about the problem. That's a good starting point in finding a solution. No-one goes to a doctor unless he wants to find a cure, and no-one speaks of spiritual problems without wanting a solution. So don't worry too much about "feel­ing like a hypocrite". It's good that you sincerely don't want to be one.

One of the greatest ploys of the devil is to prevent people reading the Bible. However, even when people do read, that doesn't mean to say that they are taking it in, feeding upon it, and obtaining strength and pleasure from it. You know that.

Our use of the Bible can be like absorbing a meal. "Thy words were found and I did eat them" prayed Jeremiah, "And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart". God nourishes you by His word and makes us often to enjoy it. "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Jeremiah 15:6 and Psalm 119:103). Let's think then of reading and studying the Scriptures, as if we were about to have a meal.

Preparation←⤒🔗

Preparation for eating is very important. To begin with, it's good to be hungry and to know that food is available for our survival. John Wesley spoke of this when he wrote, "I am a spirit come from God and return­ing to God ... I want to know one thing — the way to heaven; ... God himself has condescended to teach the way ... He hath written it down in a book. O give me that Book! At any price, give me the Book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unis libri (a man of one book)"

Let's hope that we have a hunger like that too!

Secondly, it's important before eating to have a cleanup. "Now wash your hands before coming to the table" is a common memory from childhood.

So it's good to confess our sins to God before we read His word. Use a short prayer from the Bible itself like "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). Then just as we say grace before an ordinary meal we can briefly thank God and say, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Psalm 119:18). So we use God's word to help us understand His word.

Where and when←⤒🔗

Where do you do your Bible reading? Of course, you can read in many places, but as you would normally take a meal at a table, it helps to read the Bible in a place where you will be comfortable and undisturbed.

When do you read your Bible? Most people have a main meal at a certain time each day, supplemented by lesser meals or small snacks. Now we have a duty to know as much of the Bible as we can, so a substantial portion of time at a specific part of the day ought to be set apart for this purpose. It takes time and discipline to achieve any­thing worthwhile, and that goes for scripture knowledge as well as anything else.

The heights that great men gained and kept,
were not attained by sudden flight;
but they, while their companions slept,
were toiling upward through the night.

Church leaders should become aware of our problems here. If some genuinely experience diffi­culty in finding time and space, daily, to be quiet before God, couldn't they be given a key to the church building, which is so under used anyway?

You say that even when you do manage to read a bit you don't get anything out of it. Not even a little? People who knew Jesus on earth heard His words, and like you they didn't take them in fully either. But later on God made them remember — the benefit came later. Take a look at Luke 24:8, John 2:22 and John 12:16. God's word is sometimes like a seed sown in the ground. It takes time to germinate.

For many, the enjoyment of a meal is enhanced by taking it in company. It would be good to meet with others who are hungering like you. Ask your minister to start a little group. Maybe he could be in it himself. He needs help and encouragement too, the same as everyone else.

Different capacities←⤒🔗

With regards to "feeling empty" that's not uncom­mon. Without hunger, without preparation, without washing, a person may not be ready to digest the food of God, even although it is there in plenty.

We need to remember also that we all have different capacities, and when unwell or "out of sorts" a small meal may be far more appropriate than a big one. There are many who think that they have to "get through" so much of the Bible in a day, a week or a year. That may be so for some, but sometimes, for others, that can lead to discouragement, depression and even giving up altogether. We should remember the story of "Gypsy" Smith the evangelist, who was heckled at an open-air meeting by someone who said, "I've gone through the Bible three times". Gypsy Smith's reply was, "But has the Bible been through you — once?"

Sometimes, just to take one little verse of a Gospel and to think upon it for a while and apply it, can do more good than a superficial reading of a large portion. Don't be like the man who, when he was asked if he seen beautiful scenery on his journey through the Rockies, said, "Yes, about 500 miles a day of it". That sort of scamper through the Bible is of little use.

While having a duty to know as much as we can, an even greater duty is to act on what we do know. G. K. Chesterton said, "It's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand that bother me, it's those parts of the Bible I do understand". No part of the word of God can be unim­portant, but make sure you know the more important parts first — for example, the life and teachings of Jesus in the gospels, and make sure you are acting upon them.

Practical guidance←⤒🔗

Here are a few further sug­gestions which hopefully will help you:

You're not an eagle, so don't rely on the ever so common small-print Bibles so often given as prizes in days gone by. Get a nice, good print Bible.

You have a mind. Yes, the Scriptures are sometimes so simple to understand, but sometimes they are not. You are expected to think. Get help to think. Get at least one good modern translation of the Bible, advised by your minister. Everybody should have the word of God in their own language.

Get some Bible reading notes, again advised by your own minister, elder, or trusted Christian friend. Hear ser­mons and don't be afraid to take notes of them, otherwise you'll forget most of what has been said and the preacher's work will, in part, be wasted.

Having said all that, remember that the Bible itself is the pure fountain. However much you read books, com­mentaries, Scripture notes; however much you hear and discuss, make sure that you regard the Bible itself, under God, as the supreme authority.

And remember what we said first of all about prayer and Bible reading being inter­related. If you read a book and don't understand it, others might help you, but there's no person like the author to explain what his words and works mean. Do you know the Bible's author by faith? We can have access to Him at all times. The whole purpose of the Book is to lead us to know and love the Author. Our religion is a person.

Let me end by quoting the late Bishop Ryle whose motto was "Thy word is truth". "Let us read the Bible regularly, daily and with fervent prayer, and become familiar with its contents. Let us receive noth­ing, believe nothing, follow nothing, which is not in the Bible, nor can be proved from the Bible".

I do hope that this will help you to "Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest" God's holy Word.