Mark 4:34 But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.
If you’ve ever read through the gospels, you’ve probably noticed that some of the sayings of Jesus are difficult to understand. You’re not alone in this. Even His disciples had difficulty deciphering some of these things. Have you ever wondered why He didn’t speak more plainly sometimes? There is an answer to that.
The Bible is not like any other book. It’s author wants to sit with you to explain and apply it as you read. If you treat the Bible as any other book in the way you read it, you will pass right over many of its treasures. Often in the past I have found myself passing over some obscure passage that I didn’t understand. But I have come to realize that the Holy Spirit wants to reveal these things to us (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). Sometimes understanding comes through study, sometimes it comes through pondering and meditating on the passage. But our verse is clear – Jesus will explain things to us if we will stop and listen. How many treasures in the Word of God have we passed right over because we were determined to finish our daily Bible reading!!
Bible reading is not merely about reading a book. It’s about communion with God. He wants to meet with us as we read His Word, revealing its truths, making it life-giving to us by the Holy Spirit and bringing radical change into our life through it. If everything was immediately clear to our human understanding we would breeze right on through our reading, satisfied that we have gained some bit of knowledge, without leaving any room for the Holy Spirit to speak to us.
So the next time your Bible reading leaves you with questions don’t be so quick to move on the the next verse. There may be a treasure just beneath the surface that He is waiting to reveal to you…if you will just stop, ask, and listen.
He is my Delight 