Becoming Familiar With Your Bible

II Tim 3:16a "All scripture is given by inspriation of God, and is profitable..."

The Bible tells us that there are three distinct times or occasions to read God's Word each day. In the Old Testament, as Israel was rebuilding the city of Jerusalem they gathered and stood for hours as someone just "read" the Law of God aloud to them. So, we see that we are to read the Bible, which allows us to become familiar with what it says. Then, we also see that we are to "meditate" on what we read - or simply stop and think about what we have read and how that applies to our lives. Finally, we are instructed to actually, "study" it for even deeper meaning and understanding. Think with me about the first part, that of simply reading to become familiar. I think it is of great importance, because with that familiarity we gain the knowledge that allows us to refer back to passages that can help us at any given time. But, there is also a negative side to that familiarity. Because we are well versed in what a particular passage says, we may be prone to read over it quickly and miss it's application for the day. We need to remember, that when we read the Bible, just as when we come to Church, we do so by Divine appointment. By that I mean, Sovereign God has a plan for our life that day and is preparing us through His Word to face whatever it is that may be coming. It we speed over it, we miss the blessing of the moment. My point is simple. Yes, let's become familiar with the Wonderful Holy Book, the Bible. But not to the point where we skip right over the good part. Don't miss the profit.