Working through a Good Book

As a reader, I am drawn to a good story. Good characters are high on my list, too. Nonfiction is not my first choice, though I still like it (when it reads like a story). I want to lose myself in a book, and if along the way I learn some facts or history, that's great too. Which made most textbooks a drag. Lots of facts, not enough story.

Another book that at times I have thought of as less than compelling reading is the Bible. Strange that a book that is so central to my faith, to my life, would be such hard going. Geneaologies, ritual laws, commands. Add some difficult language and the fact that I felt like I knew every story already from years of church education and Christian schools, and it became like my opinion of other textbooks--lots of facts, not enough story.

Of course, the relationship of a reader to the Bible goes through many phases. Sometimes the words come alive to me, breathing into my very soul. Other times the words run together and I can barely stay awake to make sense of them. But almost all of the time I tend to read the Bible as piecework--pick a book, start studying it, and I may or may not finish the job. I've always been impressed by people who make a commitment to read the whole Bible, in order, as a book, but I have yet to accomplish that myself.

About a year and a half ago, I began freelance work on study Bibles for Zondervan. I do some of the picky editing of the notes and articles--checking that quotes match the actual text, making sure that references actually refer to the correct verse, checking that the space after an italicized word is not italicized. Though I love the work, I am aware that my passion for finding an errant italicization is not a widely shared passion.

Beyond the edit, though, I learn a lot of little facts along the way. Did you know that the men of the tribe of Benjamin were mostly left-handed? Did you know that Abraham's wife Sarah, looker that she was, was taken into Pharaoh's harem at age 65 (when Abraham lied that she was his sister) and later into another harem at age 90--NINETY!--when Abraham lied again. Tattoos and nose rings are not a new trend--you can find them throughout the Bible, if you're reading the right translation, though the good Israelite was warned against getting inked. And in an interesting euphemism, where most modern translations refer to male prostitutes, the King James Version talks about "raisin cakes."

As fascinating as these tidbits may or may not be, I have learned something else. When you spend 2-3 months skimming the major points of the Bible, and then you go back and review the same Bible from different angles two more times, you realize how interconnected all of the stories and the promises are. God's book, that tome that sometimes seems so ancient and distant from my life, is alive with the struggles that I face in my everyday life, and it's overflowing with the promises that God offers (and fulfills) for both Biblical figures and to myself.

I may never get around to reading the every word of the Word from start to finish. Yet, the opportunity to work through it time and time again, by way of study notes and articles, has changed the way I look at the book, and I count it as a blessing.