Conflicted!  My heart compels me to read my Bible, but my brain yawns. 

I had a similar problem back in High School.  The prom was on the horizon, but I didn’t have a date. 

I was interested in one girl.  She had flowing hair down to her knees.  But because she may deny that she ever went out with me – I’ll just call her Rapunzel.

Just one problem, she was painfully shy.  I had never heard her put more than 2 words together in a sentence.  As for me, I was her socially awkward equal.  Together we made a bizarrely dull duo.  So, I took her out on a pre-prom date, to hopefully jumpstart the relationship. 

I picked her up and we drove to the restaurant in utter silence.  I was ready to drive off a cliff, but I didn’t want to muss up her hair.

She finally broke the silence when she ordered, but then retreated again.   I had no idea what to say and obviously neither did she.   It was boundlessly boring.

“How do I rescue this?” I wondered.  Maybe I could ask her a question.  She had to answer.  So, I asked, “So how long is your hair?”   “45 inches!” she said.”  And that was the end of the conversation.

So, I regrouped and asked a question that required a fuller answer. She gave me more than 2 words this time.  I was encouraged.   So, I asked another question and she answered.  And then she asked me questions and the ice melted, and we began to enjoy our time together.

OK, so I was a dating dufus, but I learned something valuable.  I learned that asking questions turns the dull into delightful.

Now did you know that The Holy Spirit is also a person, and that part of His job is to speak to us through the Word of God?  

Before He left this earth Jesus said, “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever he hears and will tell you what is to come.  He will glorify me because he will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you.”   – John 16:13-15. NETBible.com

His job is to take the words of Jesus, and all of Scripture and speak through them to us to help us understand them. 

When we pick up our Bibles, the Holy Spirit is ready to have a conversation with us.  But here’s the problem.   We treat the time like we are on a date with Rapunzel.

We read the Bible passively, expecting the words to jump off the page.  We don’t interact with it.  It leaves us bored with the Bible and the Holy Spirit.

So, we need to ask questions.  When I read John 3:16 I want to ask: “For God so loved the world?”  Why did God love the world? And how? When did He love the world?   Did He used to hate the world?   What is the world anyway?  Is God a tree hugger?  Is that what that means?   

Why does the verse begin with, “for?”  What is the for there for?  John is the only Gospel writer who recorded this verse.  Why was this important to him and not to the others?

When we ask questions, the Holy Spirit whispers the answers.  And guess what?  He begins to question us.  “So, Jim, God loved the world. Do you also love the world?”  “How much Jim?   God gave up his Son for the world – what are you willing to give up?”

A rich conversation happens when we ask questions as we read the Scripture.  Try it – you’ll love it.

A PRAYER: Lord how cool to be able to actually converse with you.  Thank you.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you!