Have you found that Scripture, aside from providing comfort and encouragement, can also be perplexing? If so, you are not alone. I've been reading the Bible daily and studying it for 47 years. Often it consoles me. Sometimes it frustrates me. Many of my closest friends are also students of the Bible who, like me, don't always find it easy to make sense of it. I personally know a handful of Bible scholars (I'm thinking of men and women who have literally spent decades studying ancient Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and ancient Near Eastern culture) who do not hide the fact that some passages are puzzling, to say the least! Even Peter the apostle acknowledged that some of what Paul wrote was hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16).
What can make the Bible more difficult to understand is if we expect things of it that it doesn't promise to deliver. If you treat it like a manual for life you are bound to be disappointed. When we reduce it to such, we settle for recipes to help us face life's struggles instead of an encounter with God Himself. When we think of the Bible as an owner's manual, we then tend to look for "either/or" and "always/never" solutions to life's challenges. There is then little room for ambiguity and our frustration can grow.
I have found a particular word/idea helpful in coming to understand God's Word and His ways. It is the word- "sometimes." It is a qualifying word that helps us recognize that neither Scripture nor the God of Scripture are always predictable.
Here are some examples of what I mean.
· Sometimes we are called to ignore a fool (Proverbs 26:4) and sometimes we are called to rebuke a fool (Proverbs 26:5).
· Sometimes it is the blessing of the Lord that makes a person rich (Proverbs 10:22); sometimes wealth is acquired through deceit (Proverbs 21:6).
· Sometimes God puts people in leadership roles (Daniel 2:21); sometimes we do (Hosea 8:4).
· Sometimes faith is a prerequisite for healing (Matthew 9:22); sometimes faith is the result of experiencing healing (John 9:1-38).
· Sometimes things go well when we follow the rules (Deuteronomy chapters 28 & 29) and sometimes they "go south" no matter how righteously we live (The book of Job).
· Sometimes God's sovereign will reigns (Psalm 115:3); sometimes human will can trump the divine will (e.g. Matthew 23:37; Hosea 8:4, etc.)
"Sometimes" invites us to be a bit more comfortable with tension and ambiguity. It forces us to think beyond a text and motivates us to seek the God of the text. Does your thinking make room for "sometimes?"