How do you eat an Elephant?

Lots of people desire to spend more time reading and studying God's word, but I have been asked many times "Where do I begin?" I believe many of us are extremely overwhelmed by the amount of content in the Bible, the various types of writings (prophets, parables, narrative, historical), as well as just plain old confusion.

There is a current book out called "How do you eat an Elephant?" The answer of course is one bite at a time. I believe that we can learn alot from this analogy. I don;t plan on eating an elephant any time soon, but I do plan on continuing my pursuit of knowing God on a deeper more intimate level. In order to do that I have to take one bite at a time. So I wanted to give you a few pointers to get you started in reading and studying he Bible on a consistent basis.

1) Begin with Prayer-Ask God to give you the wisdom to see what he is trying to say to you through His word. Remember you are not trying to discover something no one else has ever seen before. You are trying to gain insight into who God is and how much He loves you. The Bible is God's word and has eternal relevance. Prayer is the foundation to understanding what God wants to reveal to you.

2) Choose a good translation-A good translation attempts to communicate word for word from the original language. A paraphrase while helpful for some insight attempts to express the meaning in today's language often times neglecting the original meaning. (Some good translations are ESV, NIV, TNIV)

3) Make a commitment to regularly spend time in God's word. God told Joshua to "Mediatate on it (the book of the Law) day and night." Don't try and speed read through everything. The goal isn't based on time, but to get to understand and comprehend what is being communicated. Learn to meditate and think on the passage of scripture you are reading.

4)Have a journal or notebook with you to make notes, write down questions, thoughts or ideas that come to mind. This is always a good idea cause you can go back and review or remind yourself of what you have read.

God didn't intend for the Bible to be a cryptic book that only educated people could understand. The Bible was written for anyone to know the truth of who God is, what God has done and what that means for us as God's creation. So what are you waiting for? God is waiting for you. Make the commitment to spend at least 10 minutes a day readig and studying God's word.