Take lessons from the King of kings

I intentionally avoid using commentaries during my priority time. They’re a terrific resource when I’m doing my bible study. But if I wander to external help during my daily time with the Lord, I find that the academic excursion often results in me deflecting from actually applying God’s truth to my life. Haven’t we all been distracted chasing rabbits? After all, my goal is not to simply gain head knowledge, but to obey Him and love Him more. Every once in a while, however, I come across something that perplexes me to the degree that I just have to stop and get some help to keep from being confused or conflicted over a passage. Just such a need arose this week.I zipped open Blue Letter Bible and put in the passage, certain that a scholar would bring clarity to my confusion. In a brilliant way, the author did provide great clarity, but not as I’d expected. The author actually struggled with the passage himself and acknowledged that there were some elements that he wasn’t completely certain about. How refreshing! Isn’t there a part of God’s Word that has the right to remain a little unclear? Don’t get me wrong, God is not a God of confusion. Yet eternity is real and it makes sense that we can’t grasp all things from our current earthly perspective.The commentator went on to remind me of one of the great and most basic principles of interpretation:

We must always use scripture to interpret scripture.

For those times when it seems like a passage is saying something completely contrary to everything you know about God, no offense, but you’re probably not interpreting it correctly. God is consistent and never changes. He never contradicts Himself.What encouraged me greatly about this familiar principle of interpretation was realizing (duh?) that this is exactly what Jesus did when Satan tempted Him. Satan took scripture and used it in an attempt to coerce Jesus when he said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone’” (Matthew 4:6).Here's the lesson: What did Jesus do? He matched scripture with scripture. He didn’t allow Satan any wiggle room when He said, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matthew 4:7).Just this very simple step of considering what other truths run through scripture can help reduce confusion significantly. We can answer, “Because of what I know about scripture, this verse can’t mean …”No matter where you are in your journey, there’s always more truth to learn and more truth to apply. But never be intimidated by God’s glorious love letter. His desire is for you to treasure it. You don’t need a PhD to study His Word. You need a mind that’s willing to engage and a heart that’s willing to obey it. twitter | facebook