I heard it many times growing up. “Your daily Bible reading is your daily manna. Yesterday’s reading won’t suffice for today. Read the Bible every day to receive fresh bread of life.”
I never questioned it.
Until recent years.
The Israelites had to gather fresh manna every morning because yesterday’s gathering would rot.
Several things brought me to the point of challenging this oft-repeated maxim.
For one thing, during some significant trials, the food that I gained from one day’s Bible reading sustained me for many days when I was unable to read the Bible. I found that it didn’t rot like the Israelites’ manna, but became sweeter to me as I pondered it.
For another thing, I began to see that in the “Steps to Knowing the Word of God”—that is, hear, read, study, memorize, meditate, and apply—some crucial concepts were missing. Drastic, gaping holes.
But most importantly, I read John 6. I really read John 6. And there, in a passage that I’d probably read hundreds of times, I finally realized that my daily manna is not the Bible.
It’s Jesus.
He says it clearly, plainly, over and over. “I am the Bread of Life. I am the Bread from Heaven. I am the Living Bread. I am the True Bread.”
I cried out to God, “Lord, what in the world does this mean? How am I supposed to receive the manna of Jesus? How can I eat His flesh and drink His blood?” For days I read and prayed and read and prayed, crying out to God.
I knew my Bible reading had something to do with it. It had to. After all, I can’t even know who the Living Word is outside of the vision of Him I see through His written Word.
As I read and prayed, I remembered the indictment in Hebrews 4 against the Israelites in the wilderness:
“the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
I knew that the word “mixed” there was the same word used for the process of digestion that breaks down food so that it can be sent as nourishment to all parts of the body.
And then I saw.
As the written Word is ingested, the Living Word can be digested–becoming part of who I am. But only with the digestive juices of faith. I must read with a heart actively believing, seizing on truth. This is what transforms the written Word in my head to the Living Word pulsating in my very life.
The Bible reading that sustained me for days afterwards? Through Colossians I had received a clearer vision of Jesus, and in the darkness and difficulty of the following days I was able to close my eyes and focus my heart once again on Him.
The drastic gaping holes in that “Steps to Knowing the Word of God”? Actually asking God for understanding, rather than simply relying on my own intellect and assuming God would help me. Believing what I read, with passion rather than passivity.
Do you say these go without saying? I think not. How can absolute imperatives go without saying?
For years I followed the hear-read-study-memorize-meditate rule without crying out for understanding, for a gripping of my heart. For the most part I believed, and God did work in my heart through His written Word, but the faith was more passive than active. When I began to approach the Word with an active, desperate faith, I began to see Him work in my life in new ways.
And now, when I come to the Word of God, instead of my old intellectual “This-is-God’s-message-to-me-and-by-jiminy-I’m-gonna-learn-it” approach, I come to it with longing to see the beauty of Jesus Christ, to be filled with the love and power and joy of Jesus Christ, to experience a life of bringing glory to God through Jesus Christ.
He is our True, Living Bread from Heaven.
~originally published in 2009
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Go here to download your free Guide, How to Enjoy the Bible Again (when you’re ready) After Spiritual Abuse (without feeling guilty or getting triggered out of your mind). You’ll receive access to both print and audio versions of the Guide (audio read by me). I’m praying it will be helpful.
Rebecca, I read your post with joy. Thank you so much—The Word of God seems to move into us almost on a ‘cellular level’….first our “head” and then that l-o-n-g distance of moving from our ‘head’ to our ‘hearts’ and then another l-o-n-g distance…on to our ‘hands’ …where the Holy Spirit is actually observable to others. He meets us personally in the Scriptures. God bless you, Rebecca.
Thank you, Sheri!
thank you so much for helping me see it more clearly this is the way ive been looking at the word for so long im ready to know jesus more intimately please continue to send me these devotions thanks.
Yes, I, too, was taught the importance of daily reading because that’s what was going to help get me through the day, keep my mind and heart where it should be, and, yes, I was to read the Bible before breakfast.
As an adult… The guilt if not doing it right…oh! The guilt I felt! Even if I could not hold my head up or focus my eyes because of physical pain. Guilt.
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“You will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.”
I HAD hidden God’s Word in my heart. I cherish my Heavenly Father, and He never wants me to feel guilty over what is right. I am redeemed by the Blood of Christ. At a point in my life, He took the blinders off my eyes to see and understand Truth.
Do I feel the need to daily read my Bible? Do I feel guilty if I don’t? No. Not anymore. I am free~
YES!! Thank you, Debby. This is so beautiful. I’m sure people have meant well when they told us that we HAD to read our Bibles every day in order to maintain our Christian lives. And I want to make sure everyone knows that I’m a big believer in Bible reading! But that isn’t what maintains our Christian lives. Jesus Christ alone is the maintainer of our Christian lives. All our hope, peace, joy, strength, and yes, maintaining, is in HIM alone. The purpose of the written Word is to point us to the Living Word!
There were sooo many days that I felt the guilt of lacking daily bible reading and prayer, for there was a time (and now is again I’m afraid) when I was so troubled and laid low by trials that prayer was only a mere breath and Scripture was heavier than I could bear. But I learned then, and rely on now, that it is only Jesus that is needful. Not Jesus + Bible. Not Jesus + church. Not Jesus + obedience/good works. Just. Jesus.
Period.
So true. It’s been a long journey, hasn’t it, Lisa? I’m thankful for the clarity He gives.
Well said. I want to pursue Jesus, the Word. Period. And for me, I’m going through a very dry spell with my Bible reading, but sometimes only a verse is enough to sustain me. I admire those who read the Bible daily, but if I’m totally honest, I haven’t read the Bible on a daily basis in 20 years (I’m 40).
I read the Bible daily, studied it even, for over 30 years, and what I gained from it has been immensely helpful and I believe very important for recognizing false teachings and being able to articulate what’s true. But I came close to what I might call “Bibliolatry” in the sense that I put the Bible where God Himself should have been. By the Spirit’s work in me I realized what I was doing about 10 or 15 years ago, and I saw that the study of the written Word should lead me to the Living Word every time.
It’s a wonderful platform,thank you for the work you’re doing.
Rebeca, thank you for your post here.. I am seeing how Jesus is even in the Old Testement, when Isreal is in the wilderness. How the Lord is with them as a Father, Teacher, and Savior. I am starting to see this More and More. Thank you once again for your post
Amen. Thank you, Shelley.
The scripture that comes to my mind when the subject of Bible reading comes up, is from John 5, which I suppose is at least some of the context of John 6:
Joh 5:39 You make search in the holy Writings, in the belief that through them you get eternal life; and it is those Writings which give witness about me.
40 And still you have no desire to come to me so that you may have life.
41 I do not take honour from men;
42 But I have knowledge of you that you have no love for God in your hearts.
43 I have come in my Father’s name, and your hearts are not open to me. If another comes with no other authority but himself, you will give him your approval.
44 How is it possible for you to have faith while you take honour one from another and have no desire for the honour which comes from the only God?
For years, I used to be vaguely worried that my husband seldom/never read his Bible daily. (Yeah, I know–as though that was MY problem!). The passage that helped me understand him came from a novel by George MacDonald, in which one of the most godly characters in the story did not read his Bible daily, comparing it to pagan ritual, by which the doer expects to be saved.
In my circles, this is not a perspective I can share widely; surely I would not discourage Bible reading, for the book is alive, and as we read, little sparks will land in our minds until eventually, and only accompanied by the Spirit, life may spring up.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you, Sheila. An important perspective.
Rebecca, I agree with you. Absent from many Bible believers lives is the embracing faith of believing. It is very hard for me to articulate. It is an internal hold on what is read, believing without a doubt, God says it and it is true. I don’t doubt. And when doubts come, I refresh with faith filled belief in what is written. Jesus Himself is the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Thank you, as always, for your investment in seeking God’s truth and correcting so many errors in Christendom as we know it. I am very wary of “step followed Christianity” in any form. God bless you.
Thank you so much, Loretta, and God bless you as well.
Thank you for reposting this.
There is much more than that to receive Jesus as our Bread. A friend of mine Bridget Babione wrote a wonderful book called Bread and Wine about 20 ways to connect with the Lord and get nourishment. I encourage you to explore more ways and add to your toolbox.
Such a needed discussion. It brings to mind standing and pledging allegiance to the bible as a child. In some ways, the bible has been elevated as the “thing itself” rather than simply a telling of the real thing, which is always life in Jesus Christ. I love the words of Paul to Timothy (doesn’t that sound so much more personal and real than simply quoting scripture and verse) when he said, “you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” The writing is like the holding of a hand to lead to the real thing which always comes from life itself in Jesus Christ. It still blows my mind that it is a salvation that we are working out. A currency of grace for living in this world. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to bring up these topics.
This is so beautifully put, Terra. Thank you!
So beautiful. So meaningful. So true. God’s word changes you in new and abundant ways once you allow him, really allow him, to take you deeper in his path. This is exciting!
Amen, and thank you, Norma!
Wow Rebecca, this is so good and rings so true with my personal experience of reading the Word. It was those moments that I cried out to God to show me what I was missing as I was trying to understand how my abusive husband calls himself a Christian. In those moments of seeking Him with my whole heart, He opened up the word to me to show me things I’ve never heard preached from the pulpit. I’ve met a few abuse survivors who have amazing revelations of the Word of God and this is why, they were crying out to Him for understanding. I love it when we get confirmation from our fellow believers of things we have discovered. Thank you for writing this and articulating so well what was in my heart but I didn’t know how to express. Thank you!
This is so beautiful, Cheryl. Thank you!