Beholding God's Word

The Bible carries the power to transform our lives and connect us to God. For six weeks this summer, about 25 New Day-ers put that statement to the test! In the Beholding God’s Word Seminar, we listened to, carefully observed, meditated upon, and discussed God’s Word. It was a truly enriching experience.

Our motto came from Psalm 119:18, which says: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” We learned about how a doctoral zoology student spent his first several days simply beholding a strange fish specimen. His renowned professor, upon meeting him for the first time, simply pulled out the specimen, told him to “look, look, and look again,” then left him alone for three days to build the skill of beholding.

If productive observations can be made from a fish for three days, just imagine how long one could spend observing the book in which the Creator reveals himself! And yet, like the young zoology student, we often think we’ve exhausted all a Bible passage has to offer within the first 10 minutes (or less, if we’re honest). In this seminar, we challenged ourselves to linger, we learned techniques to enhance our abilities, and we repeatedly practiced to build the skill of beholding God’s Word.

We sat with passages in silence and contemplation for an uncomfortably long time. We learned about how God uses things like repeated words, figures of speech, comparisons, cause & effect, inclusio, and chiasm to communicate in his Word. We practiced looking for these “keys for beholding” and discussed our observations. In one sense, it was simple. In another sense, it was profound. God’s Word came to life as our eyes opened to see more, our hearts broadened to receive more, and our conversation extended to share more.

What does your relationship with God’s Word look like? When you open the Bible, do you get to know God better? Do you linger with it? Savor it? Do you engage with it through different pathways (spiritual, emotional, intellectual, etc.)? Do you give it time to do its transforming work in your life?

Beholding God’s Word takes practice. There are skills involved. But as we said each week at seminar: “We’re not here to master Scripture – we’re here for Scripture to master us.” I pray you spend lots of quality time in the Word. I pray you surrender yourself to its instruction, commands, and precepts. I pray you find that the Bible always reveals God, reveals your heart, and lights up the way to close the gap between the two.