You’ve Got to Read the Book

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Joshua 1:8

I breezed through my first couple of years in college, never really opening the textbooks for any of my science classes. I went to class, took notes, and studied a little before the tests, getting pretty good grades. Then something changed my junior year. I started out the year continuing to ignore my textbook and suddenly found myself in danger of getting the kind of grades that would not get me into medical school. In desperation, halfway through one miserable semester of genetics, I finally cracked my genetics textbook. It sounds absurd writing it now, but I was honestly quite surprised at how much I learned and how well I did on the next test. From then on, I read the book.

You know where I’m going with this. I’ve lived years of my life, barely opening the Bible. And I got by – until I didn’t. In the disaster of my addiction, I had a crisis of faith. I couldn’t understand how someone who professed to be a Christian could lie, steal, and become addicted to drugs. I believed however, that the Bible held the answers I needed. So, I opened it, and I began reading and searching. Again, it sounds absurd now, but I was surprised to find how much the Bible had to say about my ongoing struggle with my self-destructive nature. Now, for the last 10 years, I’ve gotten up early every morning to read, pray, and meditate on God’s word. I make a daily effort to point my life at God, and reading his word is an integral part of that ongoing process. I’ve found that if I desire the life God intends for me, then I’ve got to daily read and follow his directions.

It’s honestly a little shameful to look back and see how much of my life I lived without ever opening my Bible. I’ve always believed in God, and I’ve always believed I should read his word. I just didn’t live what I claimed to believe. And that was my life problem. I said I believed in God, but I lived according to my will. Just like ignoring my genetics textbook led to predictable consequences (failing genetics), ignoring God’s word, led me to a similar outcome (failing at life). If I intend to continue to enjoy my new life in God, then I must continue to daily pick up his word and read it.