We have thousands of questions on dozens of issues the Bible never addresses. On other topics though, it seems it’s just the opposite. Scripture supplies liberal space to minutiae that seem trivial.
(Photo by Photodune)
Let’s be honest. Have you wondered if we need all the Bible gives us?
- Take genealogies, for example. Do we really need nine chapters of 1 Chronicles to tell us who begat who? I mean, would our faith fall apart if we didn’t know Hadad begat Bedad?
- And what about Deuteronomy’s lengthy retelling of the Law?
- Or even the huge amount of content devoted to repeating the same events of Peter’s visit to Cornelius?
These represent mere samples of what seem like a lopsided emphasis. I mean, if we only have so many verses in the Bible, could we not give a little less to the genealogies and more to, say, how to raise a teenager?
Amazingly, in spite of all the Bible doesn’t tell us, it still remains an inexhaustible book.
You’ll never find the bottom. Here’s why.
The Familiar Always Feels Better
If you’ve ever studied a foreign language with all its quirks, you may have wondered why it doesn’t just work the way English does. After all, English makes much more sense. It even seems more right.
Our familiarity with our native language makes it seem best—whatever the language. Even though we know the problem lies with our ignorance of a new language’s grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, we still can’t shake the feeling that it’s the language that’s the problem—not us.
Strange how we think that, isn’t it?
(Photo: By Trounce, Own work. GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons)
Why You’ll Never Find the Bottom of Your Bible
Most of the significant learning we undertake in life begins with us scratching our heads.
So, of course, our most significant study—God’s Word—often finds us tilting our heads like a curious dog. We’ll struggle to grasp God’s lopsided emphases when our way of thinking makes so much more sense. Eventually we discover that our questions about the purpose of genealogies and temple dimensions all have answers—good ones.
Even our deeper questions about God and life (and teenagers) have answers, but we may lack the capacity to grasp those solutions this side of heaven.
- The finite cannot grasp the infinite.
- God reveals what He wants us to know, what we need to know, and what we can comprehend.
Sometimes we wait on God for the answers. Sometimes He waits on us before we’re ready to hear them. And yet, even the small slice of the infinite that represents the Bible requires a lifetime of study.
It is an inexhaustible text.
Tell me what you think: What amazes you most about the Bible? To leave a comment, just click here.
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