(6.) Our Accommodating God: His Holy Scripture

(6.) Our Accommodating God: His Holy Scripture.

“Who is able to understand the mind of Lord Yahweh? Who is able to be His teacher? We, however, have the mind of Christ!” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

An Accommodating Person is one who graciously changes plans for another’s benefit; who is willing to adjust in order to meet another’s needs; is open to adapting to changing circumstances; who is able to make concessions if needed; who makes allowances for others; who choose to oblige other and give them favors in order to be helpful; who is able to creatively shift from Plan A to Plan B if needed; who makes space for others to learn and grow; who welcomes others to fit into his own space; who makes reasonable exceptions to a general rule; who is comfortable in doing whatever it takes to be understood or to communicate effectively; who is willing to adjust expectations in light of reality; who is able to place limits on himself if it help others to flourish; who is able to step back in order to enable others to step forward.

Qualities of An Accommodating Person: Gracious; Humble; Sacrificial; Flexible; Observant; Farsighted; Insightful; Adaptable; Reasonable; Forgiving; Hospitable; Patient; Self-Effacing; Shrewd.

Our Accommodating God is willing, in His wisdom, to do everything described above, and then some. It seems to be in His nature to be an accommodating Soul, a part of His character since before Day One. God has been making concessions from before the creation of the universe, since creation itself was accomplished in the spirit of accommodation. God has also condescended to reveal His glory, agreed to His presence in the wilderness Tabernacle, made concessions to cultural realities in His Law, communicated in human language to produce holy Scripture, accommodated His word through His messengers, made Himself available through the Church’s sacraments, humbly revealed Himself with dreams and visions, and offered to us the ultimate accommodation… the Incarnation of His infinite Being to finite planet earth. God’s accommodations began before the beginning, during that eternal time before Day One, when Creator God filled everything, had always been present everywhere at the same time, and yet decided to make room for the universe. And the Lord has continued making concessions with His creation, with human beings, ever since. And that is the divine pattern to be found in our lives as well… to accommodate, to make space in our lives for God and for each other.

Why would the Bible be considered an example of God’s accommodation? The written Scripture is seen as a supremely gracious act of God motivated by His yearning for a personal relationship with each of us:

… He adjusted His heavenly communications to our earthly level so we could begin to understand Him better;

… He was willing to make Himself knowable even though He is essentially beyond our comprehension;

… He volunteered to stoop down and lower Himself to our human level out of love for us;

… He was willing to communicate in accessible human language instead of in an inaccessible heavenly language;

… He adapted to where we are in His communication instead of demanding us to go where He is;

… He chose to inspire every type of person imaginable to reflect His words and thoughts and not just the spiritual elite;

… He made allowances to our finite intelligence to help us read His infinite mind;

… He had the humility and grace to accept our human limitations in order to communicate with us;

… He desired to reach every kind of person by inspiring the authors to use every type of literature: short story; historical narrative; metaphor; poetry; music; allegory; humor; dreams; satire; biography; genealogy; fable; eyewitness accounts; fable; essays; moral teachings; wisdom principles; apocalyptic visions.

… He placed His human and angelic messengers in historical times and places to communicate the Reality of his presence and not disconnected from real life in some fantasy world;

… He was willing to describe His divine qualities by using human terms such as His arms, His hands, His memory, His sight, His hearing, His tasting, His heart, His legs.

Is Scripture truly His Word? Is it reliable? Is it inspired? Is it accurate? The Judeo-Christian Bible is its own library that was written over a span of about 1,600 years by over forty different authors. The first book (either Job at 1,800 BC or Genesis at 1,400 BC) was written about 3,800 years ago, and the latest (either Revelation at 95 AD or 2 Peter at 110 AD) about 1,900 years ago. Amazingly, the Bible is coherent and hangs together in a unified vision, and even with all those separate books, Scripture is still referred to as one Book, the Bible. The Bible is technically more reliable than any other historical documents, with more verified original manuscripts than Julius Caesar, or Plato, or Homer, or any other historical figure. Archeology continues to confirm Biblical information, and ancient prophecies continue to be fulfilled. If the Bible is untrustworthy, then so is every other historical record.

How do I go about reading such a huge Book? On the One Hand… Gulp down the Scripture like cold craft beer on a hot day. Take in as much as you can as soon as possible to get the Big Picture, the panorama of the Bible, the Big Story from beginning to end. On the Other Hand… Sip the Scripture like a fine wine. Take your time over a passage that is tasty and beckons for more consideration. Take a small passage, swish it around in your mind to get the full flavor, enjoy the unhurried sensation of thinking deeply about something that is truth itself. On the One Hand… The Bible deserves to be honored, held up high in respect, revered as an unspeakable gift from God. The Scriptures are priceless and are on an entirely different level of significance than any other written document. On the Other Hand… The Bible is not to be treated as an idol, it is not an object of worship. Knowledge of God’s Word is not intended to replace a personal relationship with Him. As George MacDonald once said, the Bible is the moon in our darkness reflecting the light from the sun. The moon isn’t the original source of light, the sun is. Scripture is merely reflecting the light from its source, Jesus, the Source of light in our darkness. Honor Scripture, revere it, live by it, but don’t worship it. As Jesus Himself declared to the Bible scholars of His day, “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.” (John 5:39-40).

How can I begin to delight in the Word? Pondering Scripture day and night is a believer’s joy. The Hebrew word for meditate is hagah, a body/mind experience. Isaiah used this same word hagah for the sounds of a lion over its prey (Is. 31:4) and the cooing of a dove (Is. 38:14). Meditating thus involves groaning with pleasure, murmuring in contentment and joy, thoughtfully mumbling over meaningful words. A meditator is engaged in the pleasant experience of focusing on something that is life-giving. So much of Scripture, if not all of it, reveals a kind of writing that invites, as Eugene Peterson said, “a special kind of reading, a dog-with-a-bone kind of reading.” Believers delight in the Bible, in God’s eternal Word, and they don’t mind chewing on the Word day and night. What could be more delightful than to digest truth, that which gives you life?

How can I go about eating and digesting God’s Word?  “Readers become what they read. The words of Scripture are transformative words, intended to get inside us, to enter our souls as food enters our stomachs, to do something in us, give health and wholeness, vitality and holiness, wisdom and hope. Eating the scripture is not simply thinking about it. We take it all in to nourish new life in us, feeding the energies of salvation.” (Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book). When we read Scripture, it is not enough to simply highlight the memorable verses. It is not enough to underline the passages that pique our interest. It is not enough to read the Word and take mental notes that will be filed for later consideration. It is not enough to be a passive bystander who is fascinated by something he has witnessed. No, when we read Scripture, we open the Book, we pick up our eating utensils, and we eat like ravenous wolves. Imagination… The Christian faith demands an active imagination. So much that is read in the Scripture is actually meant to be a picture of something that we need to acquire through the imagination, something that is done figuratively and not literally. A literal action in the Bible might instead be an invitation to consider what that action represents. Something done physically is sometimes meant to teach us a spiritual lesson. An example is the eating of Scripture. Three different characters in the Hebrew Bible were told to literally eat the Word, to ingest it, and they did. In these cases of John, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, their rather unexpected action of eating the Scripture is intended to symbolize the importance of taking in God’s Word, right into our innermost being, fully digested. Spiritual Digestion… What are these three mighty prophets telling us? Scripture seems to be implying that we all have a spiritual digestive system. God’s Word is something to consume like food, the nutrients of the Word chewed, swallowed, and broken down in such a way that the Word’s wisdom and life is spread throughout our whole being. We eat this spiritual food and we are nourished as it enters our blood vessels and spreads to our very nerve endings. Our soul hungers for the nutrients of the Word. When we eat God’s Word, we are participating in Scripture and not merely spectating from a distance. When we ingest the Bible, our spiritual life is full of life and growth and vitality. The Bible is intended to be assimilated to every cell of our spiritual being, giving us energy, purpose, spiritual substance. The Scripture is meant to be digested so that we can flourish in the Christian life. Swallowing the Word down our spiritual gullet is a far cry from simply sipping alphabet soup or munching on a word salad. Scripture is solid spiritual food.

Who actually wrote the books of the Bible…. God? People? Both? Neither? In Scripture, God’s divine thoughts are humanly expressed. The authors were all imperfect human beings supernaturally moved by the Holy Spirit. They had their own God-given personalities, vocabulary, life experience, historical contexts, giftedness, and style of writing. Besides all that, the authors enjoyed a wide variety of spiritual maturity between them at the time of the writing. I believe God wanted to honor their humanity while at the same time ask them to be a part of the inspired revelation. So, it is doubtful that the authors were simply receiving dictation during the inspiration. The authors of Scripture were surely cooperating with God while not mechanically writing down word-for-word like a mindless robot. The believable result of this profound interplay between the mind of God and the mind of the authors is nothing less than the truth of the Lord. Yes, Holy Scripture is simply true, and eternally so.

What’s the Point? Why bother to read the Bible? “Remember what you were taught from your childhood from the sacred Scriptures, which can impart to you wisdom in order to experience everlasting life through the faith of Jesus, the Anointed One! Every Scripture has been inspired by the Holy Spirit, the breath of God. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Then you will be God’s servant, fully mature and perfectly prepared to fulfill any assignment God gives you.”(2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Holy Scripture is God’s brainchild, conceived in the mind of Christ with the Father and the Spirit. In His mercy, God desired to tell us what was and still is on His mind. He allows us access to His thinking through the Bible. Ironically, we cannot read the mind of others, but we have been given the privilege of reading the mind of almighty God. Gaining the mind of Christ through His Spirit allows the unspeakable blessing of understanding the very thoughts of God in His Word. Reading God’s mind has nothing to do with intellectual brilliance or advanced education. In fact, sometimes those gifts can get in the way of true spiritual understanding. “God has revealed to us His inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit… God’s thoughts and secrets are only fully understood through His Spirit, the Spirit of God… Someone living on the entirely human level can’t understand the revelations of the Spirit because they are only discovered by the illumination of the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:10-11, 14). The Spirit dwells within us, giving us the mind of Christ, ushering us into a deep understanding of His Word.

How can we mere human beings even begin to understand God’s Word? “… And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself; He interpreted for them every passage of the Hebrew Bible which referred to Him.” (Luke 24:27). It is wisest to literally ask the Spirit of Christ to open the meaning of the Scripture every time we open the Bible. On the One Hand… The letters on every page of the Bible are dead and lifeless to those who choose to be limited to their natural mind, those who refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to bring those words to life. The aggressive scoffer and skeptic are, biblically speaking, mindless in a spiritual way, not even remotely open to the truth of Scripture. The natural mindset considers Scripture to be mere foolishness, they are blind to the mysterious truth of Christ. What is needed here is a divine intervention to bring those words to life. On the Other Hand… Those words in Scripture actually have spiritual energy, are full of life. It’s as if those simple dead words on the page are resurrected by the Spirit, and God’s vibrant voice rings out from every page. There is a compelling power to God’s Word as it speaks to the reader. Just as Jesus the Living Word rose from the tomb, the Spirit of God breathes life into the words of Scripture, which in turn breathes new life into the reader. Each passage can take on a life of its own through the Spirit of God, and is able to speak into the heart and mind of the reader. Miraculous encounters with God have occurred countless times with the inspired words of the Bible, when the words just seem to jump off the page and into the mind and heart of the reader.

Where in the Bible is the best place to start reading? The four Gospels are the North Star of Scripture, the best and only place to start reading the Bible. With that in mind, remember that it’s best to eat a balanced diet as we feast on God’s Word. Since we are children of Abraham (Galatians 3:29), we need to study the Hebrew Bible (the O.T.) seriously and regularly with its Torah and writings and prophets; and we need to delve deeply into the New Testament as well, remembering that the Gospels are our bread and butter. The Gospel story is the greatest story ever told. As Andrew Klavan once said, the Gospel is when myth meets history, when mankind’s most earnest and persistent hope becomes reality. The Gospels are our grid when considering theology. If a particular theology seems inconsistent with the Jesus we find in the Gospels, go with the Gospels. The Gospel Jesus trumps a theological Jesus, because the Gospels reveal God’s Word in the flesh, and theology is man’s word in the abstract. God’s Word is our reference point whenever discerning man’s word.

A Final Thought on Scripture from An Inspired Bible Teacher:

“The Bible is holiness in words. The words of the Bible are like dwellings made with rock. The Bible is the light of God given in the form of language. How is it conceivable that the Divine should be contained in such brittle vessels as consonants and vowels? It is as if God took these Hebrew words and breathed into them of His power, and the words became a live wire charged with His spirit. Just as it is impossible to conceive of God without the world, so is it impossible to conceive of His concern without the Bible. If God is alive, then the Bible is His voice.” (Abraham Joshua Heschel, God In Search Of Man, 1955).