Introduction

I have talked with many Christians about their struggle to read the Bible. They express a number of stumbling blocks including reading comprehension, staying focused, following the narrative, and understanding what is being said. The desire to grow closer to God through His word is there, but they struggle to gain traction or establish a rhythm. If that sounds familiar, then this post is for you. Here are five questions I have constantly running in my mind while I read the Bible. You don’t need a seminary degree to answer these questions, and you aren’t necessarily looking for the world’s best answer. Working through the questions keeps you focused on the text, and that is how God speaks to us.

What Does The Text Say About God?

This first question is designed to direct our focus toward God. God is the primary character and purpose of the Bible. It was written to reveal who He is, what He’s like, what He’s done, what He is doing, and what He will do. Its pages are filled with statements that declare who He is, and many of these are declared by God Himself. God revealed everything humanity needs to know about Him in order to exist with Him the way He designed. Focusing our attention to how the Bible describes God helps us grow closer to Him, understand Him better and deeper, and it gives us further peace about resting in His grace. All of this draws us into worship and praise of our almighty God.

What Does The Text Say About Humanity?

This second question is designed to focus our attention on how the Bible describes humanity (you can expand this question to all of creation and reality if you wish as well). What is humanity? What is the significance or value of a human? What are humans like? What should humans be like? Keeping the broad question of “what does this say about humanity?” in the back of my mind has allowed me to notice when the Bible speaks to these topics. Expanding from simply declaring who God is, the Bible also speaks to how God relates to His creation, and the chief component to this relationship is the one between Himself and humanity– both to humanity as a whole and on an individual level. Over time, you will develop a deeper understanding of your own heart compared to what God wants your heart to look like.

A spin-off of this question is “what does the text say about those outside of Christ, and what does it say about the Church?” This variation is helpful particularly in the New Testament Epistles.

What Don’t I Understand / What Do I Need More Information about?

Asking this question helps you identify something that is likely important but you need more information to know how / why it’s important. These questions might center around the historical timeline, cultural customs, terminology & phrases, or a statement made by the writer that he seems to believe is obvious. There are other others of course. The key is for you to read the text with a curious eye and look for things that might better help you understand the passage if you had more information or clarity about them.

What’s Tugging At Your Heart?

This question is designed to engage our hearts and reflect on the text. God speaks to us when we engage with His word. What stands out? What is drawing you in? What captured your attention? What is taking root in your heart? Whatever it is, take time to reflect, meditate, and pray through it. Going through this process builds intimacy with God and often pulls me into worship.

Bonus: Why Is This Here?

There are multiple components to this question, and I need to provide a brief set-up to illustrate why we should ask this question in the first place. The Bible is not an exhaustive account of what God has done; it is not an exhaustive account of any of the characters’ lives that are in its pages. What was Abram doing for the first 75 years of his life? We don’t know. What was Moses’ life like in the house of Pharaoh’s daughter? We don’t know. What were Jesus’ daily routines for the first 30 years of his life? Again, we don’t know. What we do know is that the content we do have was preserved because God decided it should be. We have the content of the Bible because God wanted us to have it, and that is intentional. God wants us to have this content because this content will lead us to specific conclusions about who He is, who we are, and how we relate to each other (this is the expressed stated purpose John gives for why he wrote his gospel; see John 20:30-31).

So, here is how I work through this question. First, I ask why this content? What does this communicate, and why does God want me to know and understand it?  Second, I ask why is this content placed here in this book? Why does the story of Judah and Tamar interrupt the narrative of Joseph (Gen. 38)? Why does John place the story of Jesus cleansing the temple at the beginning of his gospel when Matthew, Mark, and Luke place it towards the end? Why this? Why here? Working through this question will develop your ability to analyze the text and come to conclusions about the previous four questions in this post.

Conclusion

To bring this full circle, asking these questions while reading the Bible keeps your mind connected to and engaged with the content you are reading. Keeping your mind engaged will help you stay focused, attentive, and interested. No one is more interesting than God. He is the eternal, sovereign, creator, and He has preserved revelation about Himself for us to learn and understand. Incorporating these questions into your Bible reading will help you gain traction in that process, and, after a while, you’ll ask and look for answers to these questions automatically in the background while you read.