Reading Your Bible is a Battle
Reading your Bible is a battle. There’s a reason why Paul lists Scripture as the sword of the Spirit in his discussion of the armor of God (Eph. 6:17). Obviously, Scripture is useful for resisting sin. We see Jesus use it to that end during his wilderness temptation. But the Bible is also “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). More even than that, Scripture reveals God’s character and is, thus, central to worshiping well (Psalm 119). That’s why reading the Bible is a battle.
And yet, we usually approach Scripture reading as preparation for battle rather than the battle itself. In truth, it’s both. This struck me when I was reading the preface Patrick Schreiner’s commentary on Acts. He writes,
Reading the Scriptures (and a commentary on the Scriptures) is spiritual warfare because the message of God communicates the presence of God (Acts 10:33). Satan will do everything he can to thwart and undermine God’s presence on the earth. He is the true “God-fighter” (theomachos; Acts 5:39). Therefore, one should enter any sort of spiritual reading, including this one, bathed in prayer and wary of the schemes of the devil. What you most dislike may be the very thing that requires your attention. (xvii)
It’s worth pondering Schriener’s as we consider whether we approach our Scripture reading in purely naturalistic terms or as part of a great spiritual battle. It may be that our constant distraction or our disinterest are more than a failure of willpower.
Hitting the Middle
Yet any mention of spiritual warfare should be considered with caution. As C. S. Lewis wrote in The Screwtape Letters, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight” (18).
The most common error in our time is to be materialists. Even Christians often live as if the natural world is all there is. In his recent book, Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age, Rod Dreher tries to correct this error, by inviting the opposite error. Demons are real, he assures us, and they help explain encounters with aliens, the rise of artificial intelligence. Moreover, we can touch the supernatural by dropping acid and other psychedelic drugs—though he cautions that might be demonic end of the supernatural spectrum. In his attempt to correct, he overreaches into speculation and superstition. It’s easy to fall into the opposite ditch when we try to correct an error.
Our task as Christians is to try to keep between the ditches. We can never forget that this is a world alive with spiritual powers that are real. Some of them don’t wish us well. And that realization, coupled with Schreiner’s observation, has implications for the way we approach our Bible reading each day.
Pray First
Getting to my customary chair to read the Bible in the morning seems like the easiest thing in the world. I’m safe in my home. The coffee is usually brewing by then. It’s the first thing I do on most days. And yet, it’s easy to be distracted.
Sometimes that distraction is overt—I go to my phone to look something up. Or, I have a fleeting thought that I feel like I have to chase just at that moment. When that happens, distraction can steal my attention for much more than I initially expected.
But other times the distraction is less obvious. My eyes move across and down the columns at a normal rate, but my mind is wrestling with a question, a problem, or a plan for the day. Minutes go by and all the words may have passed before my eyes, but they didn’t make their way into my brain.
The point is that distraction happens to me despite my best intentions. I don’t think I’m alone.
I think Schreiner’s suggestion is on target: “Enter any sort of spiritual reading, including this one, bathed in prayer and wary of schemes of the devil.” Paul, of course, admonishes us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). Even when we are getting ready to read our Bibles, we should be praying. Satan, after all, is “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). But our own fleshly minds are enough to carry us away even from tasks of eternal significance. That’s not just true when we’re outside our homes doing “real” ministry, it’s also true when we’re in our comfy chair getting ready to partake of God’s holy word.
Understanding the spiritual challenge to reading the Bible well doesn’t change what I need to do to make it happen. However, it does change my perspective on why managing distraction while reading my Bible is important.
Reading your Bible is a battle. There’s a reason why Paul lists Scripture as the sword of the Spirit in his discussion of the armor of God (Eph. 6:17). More even than that, Scripture reveals God’s character and is, thus, central to worshiping well (Psalm 119). That’s why reading the Bible is a battle.