Some of us fall out of Bible reading because we fail to make time for it. Busyness crowds out the minutes we might otherwise give to sitting and hearing from God. There’s always something that didn’t get done yesterday or something relatively urgent that’s come up today. It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it, just how many things in our little worlds seem to trump listening to the one who made them all?

For others, it’s not busyness that gets the best of us, but a subtle cynicism about reading the Bible. How am I ever going to understand this? It’s hard to keep getting up extra early and setting aside precious minutes when you’re not convinced you’ll be able to make sense of what you see, when you might finish and strangely feel further from God, when you’re chasing a full heart morning after morning and yet often walk away just scratching your head.

If you’ve felt that way before, you’re not alone. In fact, even the men who wrote the Bible know something of what you feel. The apostle Peter says of the letters Paul wrote, “There are some things in them that are hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16). Think about that: Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote books in the Bible, and yet even he struggled to read Romans or Thessalonians (or whatever particular letter he had in mind). If he could write on behalf of God and have a hard time understanding Scripture, we shouldn’t be surprised if we do too.

And I, for one, definitely do. I’ve battled to get through the census records in Numbers. I’ve labored through the kidneys, livers, and “entrails” of the Levitical laws. I’ve grown weary of the repetitive failures of Israel in 1–2 Kings. I’ve sometimes struggled to see what Hebrews sees in the Old Testament. Much of the imagery of Revelation is still a mystery to me. And so, I regularly find these clear and accessible words from Paul all the more meaningful and encouraging:

Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. (2 Timothy 2:7)

Understanding Is Possible

This is an amazing acknowledgment from Paul to Timothy. He says, in essence, “I know some of what I am writing won’t make sense to you immediately, and you’ll be tempted to think you cannot understand it — but you can. So, don’t give up too easily. Don’t assume this is above you. Assume that God can make his words clear to you.”

Those apart from Christ cannot understand the things of God. They flip through the Bible’s majesty and wisdom in vain. “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). But not you. If you’re in Christ, you can see things that they can’t. You can understand things that they can’t. Where they see foolishness and irrelevance, you see unspeakable beauty, a radiant window into reality. Not because you’re smarter or more educated or merely a better reader, but because you’re not a natural person anymore; you’re a supernatural you, with a supernatural mind and heart and eyes.

“Because you’re someone new, you can understand more of the Bible than you might think.”

Or as Paul says elsewhere of natural people, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:18). But not you. You’re not alienated from God anymore. Through the cross, he’s brought you near, and in bringing you near, he’s softened your heart and unlocked your mind. The God who flooded all creation with light “has shone in [your] heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). That’s who you are when you open the Bible.

And because you’re someone new, you can understand more of the Bible than you might think.

In Everything

Not only can you understand more than you think, but the apostle goes even further: “ . . . the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” If God lives in you, nothing in the Bible is above you — not the genealogies of Numbers, or the sacrificial laws of Leviticus, or the prophetic visions of Ezekiel, or the apocalyptic imagery of Revelation. With God, all are within your reach.

Lest we think Paul’s talking only about the verses immediately before this one, he comes back to the same reality in the very next chapter: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). As much of the Bible that has been breathed out by God — all of it! — that much is now profitable for you. Even on the most obscure, most confusing pages, God means to teach you, to exhort you, to correct you, to train you, to equip you — he means to speak to you.

“Even on the most obscure, most confusing pages, God means to teach you.”

Before any of that can happen, however, we first have to understand what God is saying — which is exactly where God promises to help us: “The Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

Varied Means of Understanding

None of this means we just sit alone with our Bibles until we understand everything. No, God gives the gift of understanding in a hundred different ways. Remember, most Christians in the history of the world didn’t own a Bible (much less carry it with them everywhere in their pockets). They depended on the regular reading and reciting of Scripture in community. From the first church to today, believers have depended on faithful teachers to rehearse, explain, and model the words of God for them.

And God has multiplied pathways to understanding in our day — first and foremost through our local churches, but then through messages, articles, books, study Bibles, online courses, commentaries, podcasts, and more. So understanding may come in any number of ways. The point here, however, is that you really can understand what’s in this book — everything that’s in this book, Paul says.

Now, to say that we can understand everything in the Bible is not to suggest that we will understand everything immediately and fully. We won’t — and certainly not the first (or second or even tenth) time through. God can give us understanding in every passage without giving us understanding of every part of a passage. He also often chooses to give understanding, not immediately, but over years or even decades. As we keep reading (and living), familiar verses will emerge with new or deeper meaning and relevance. Some questions will be answered slowly. So don’t expect to understand everything now, but expect to understand something now — and then more tomorrow.

Ask God

Up until now, we’ve seen only that we can understand more than we may assume. You should be asking how. What makes this kind of supernatural reading possible? How do the lights come on?

Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

On our own, we can’t understand the Bible. If God leaves us alone with this book, it wouldn’t be worth getting up early, pouring more hours in, and pressing through difficult verses and chapters. We would search and ask and wrestle in vain. But if it’s God who makes things clear, then he can overcome our limitations and blind spots. You can understand the Bible because God will give you understanding. When you read, he’s not just over your shoulder; he’s inside of you — in your eyes, your mind, your heart — showing you what you’d never see on your own.

The one who reveals himself in the Bible wants to make himself clear. He’s not content to have divinely inspired words on the page; he wants them written on our hearts. He wants to see understanding, and satisfaction, and transformation — and so he won’t leave you alone with your Bible. This may be why Paul ends the letter the way he does: “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you” (2 Timothy 4:22). We need the present, spiritual help of God in all we do all the time, and especially in understanding his word.

Think Hard

This understanding, however, doesn’t float down from the clouds and land softly on our heads. No, God gives the gift of understanding through the hard work of reading well. This verse demands almost as much as it promises: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” This won’t come easily, Timothy. Yes, God is the one who gives understanding, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have to work for it.

Isn’t it strange that some of us hear that God sovereignly gives understanding, and we assume that means we need to do less? Satan teaches this kind of calculus all year round (and not just in Bible reading).

No, 2 Timothy 2:7 is far more like God’s words to Joshua before Israel entered the promised land:

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. . . . Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:8–9)

“I will be with you” didn’t mean “You won’t have to fight.” Along with his promise of help and protection, God gave Joshua a charge: “Be strong and courageous.” Fight all the harder because you know I’ll fight with you and for you.

So, when you open your Bible, be strong and courageous. God will be with you wherever you read. Don’t be discouraged or intimidated. Think harder and longer because you know the Lord loves to give you understanding.

http://rss.desiringgod.org/link/10732/15802457/always-joyful-prayerful-thankful-and-good

Audio Transcript

We end the week with a sobering email from an anonymous wife who listens to the podcast. She’s reaching out for help. This episode will cover mature themes — just a heads up.

The wife writes in to say this: “Dear Pastor John, I am married to a professing Christian husband with a twenty-year history of hidden porn use. He’s confessed it, though he struggles also with sins like lying to look good, not disciplining his children, and using a flippant demeanor. These are continuing with regularity in my husband’s life. As far as I can tell, he’s not showing fruits of repentance. My question: How do I, as a wife, relate to him biblically? Hebrews 3:13 says to ‘exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.’ But 1 Peter 3:1–2 commissions women, saying if some husbands do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. I understand that 1 Peter 3 is commanding a respectful, submissive attitude that may win a husband. I’m hung up on what the phrase ‘without a word’ means. Does it mean that a wife in my situation should not ever exhort her husband, as it says in Hebrews 3? Should I never bring up my concerns over the continuing sin that wreaks havoc in our home? I would truly appreciate any insight or advice you can give me.”

Not many things are more heavy on the heart than long-term marital disappointment. We hoped that there would be sweet harmony in those early days, and spiritual mutuality. And there has been very little of either, maybe for decades. We see our whole life going by, imagining what might have been, and it can be utterly disheartening. So, one of the things that needs to be dealt with is this: What if change — say, in this husband — never comes? What if all the things you dreamed, hoped, and prayed for don’t happen?

“There is great reward for those who endure in a godly, Christ-exalting way the disappointments of this life.”

I want to say loud and clear that there is grace — there is great grace — for that situation. Even grace for flourishing in it, not just coping with it. And there is great reward forever and ever for those who endure in a godly, Christ-exalting way the disappointments of this life. Now, that’s not what she’s asking, but I felt it’s important to say it. She’s not asking how to cope with disappointment, but rather what strategies are permitted or encouraged for a godly wife to seek change in her husband who’s living in sinful ways. So, let me offer a few clarifications of what I hear in this question.

Unbeliever or Believer?

First, 1 Peter 3:1–6 is dealing most immediately with a woman who is married to an unbelieving husband. I say that because when 1 Peter 3:1 says that they “do not obey the word,” that language elsewhere in 1 Peter refers to believing the gospel and becoming a Christian. For example, 1 Peter 1:22 refers to “having purified your souls by obedience to the truth,” which in the context means having obeyed the command in the gospel to believe, and thus experiencing its purifying power.

The same thing is true in 1 Peter 4:17: “It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” — which again refers to those who do not obey the command to believe the gospel and be saved. So, when 1 Peter 3:1 says, “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,” it’s referring to a marriage to an unbelieving husband.

Now, the reason that matters in this case is that massive new realities are in play when we are dealing with a professing Christian husband and a professing Christian wife. And that’s not the case in 1 Peter 3:1, but it is the case in this question that I’m being asked. New factors come into play when we are talking about two Christians.

Members of Christ’s Body

For example, with regard to the husband, under God he is not only responsible to his wife, to live with her in a certain way — like providing for her, protecting her, leading her spiritually, honoring her, as it says in Ephesians 5:25–33 and 1 Peter 3:7 — but this Christian husband is also responsible to the leaders of his church. Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them.” He’s responsible to his church covenant — that is, to the biblical implications of being a member of the body of Christ.

That’s what the biblical language of “members of Christ” means in 1 Corinthians 12. “The body does not consist of one member but of many” (1 Corinthians 12:14). One cannot say to the other, “I have no need of you.” This husband can’t say that about the other Christians in the church, especially his leaders. “You are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). Now, whether he thinks in these terms or not, that’s true about this husband. And he needs to think in those terms. He needs those other believers. He needs those Christian leaders in his life.

“The Christian husband is not a free-standing moral agent, doing whatever he pleases in this marriage.”

The Christian husband is not a free-standing moral agent, doing whatever he pleases in this marriage. He is a member — an arm, a leg, a finger, an ear, a tongue — of Christ and responsible to Christ as the head and to other members, especially the leaders of the body of Christ that he’s a part of. That’s true of the wife as well, which means that this marriage is not an isolated couple with no accountable relationships. They are part of the body of Christ. She and he have recourse to the church for help. They are members of Christ’s body.

Now, in this case, the husband does not seem to be seeking help from the body of Christ or from the leaders, but rather is prone, she says, to cover up — to cover up his need rather than seek help for it. This means that more of the burden is falling to his wife, which is not the way it’s supposed to be, and it’s putting her in a very difficult position.

Massive New Realities

So, let me underline for her the new realities that her belonging to Christ bring into play in this marriage. For example, she’s not only his wife, with the biblical implications that has for submission (which I’ll come back to in a minute), but she is also his sister in Christ, with appropriate implications for how a caring brother and sister might speak to each other.

She’s his fellow heir of the grace of life (1 Peter 3:7), which implies a kind of regal dignity as God’s daughter, and which, if she’s mature, has implications for dealing with her co-heir, her husband, in a mature, humble, and fitting way.

She is, as we’ve seen, a member of the body of Christ as he is. This implies, as Paul says, that we are individually members of one another. That is, she’s part of her husband’s very being, and to speak to him is in a profound sense to speak to herself.

Also, because they are one flesh, this has profound significance in view of the Golden Rule — do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Matthew 7:12) — because, in this case, he is you.

And she’s also indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This means not only that she has the treasures of wisdom and knowledge from God in her, but that she may be empowered at any given moment for some perfectly suited gift from God for what that husband needs.

And she’s created in God’s image — not only as all humans are, but doubly so because she’s been recreated in the image of Christ. As a Christian, she has, Paul says, become a new self, a new person, “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).

Now, I’m pointing out all of these glorious realities about this wife as they come into play because she asks, Should I never bring up my concerns over the continuing sin that wreaks havoc in our home? And I want her to see that these many realities about her position, her identity — in Christ, in relation to the church, in relation to the Lord, and in relation to her husband — all of them imply that she’s fully competent to think biblically about herself, her husband’s behavior, their relationship, and the impact it has on their children, and to approach him earnestly with her concerns for him and for them.

Submissive Confrontation

Now, I said I’d come back to the issue of submission. In my understanding of submission, none of this that I’ve just itemized — about all of the wife’s remarkable dignities — implies that in speaking to a husband about her concern she would necessarily be acting in an insubordinate or unsubmissive way. She might be if her attitude is wrong, but I think a mature, godly, Bible-saturated woman knows the difference between nagging a husband in a pushy or insubordinate way, on the one hand, and humbly and wisely bringing to the husband her concerns and seeking with him a way forward toward relational health that would make both of them and the children holier and happier.

If they can’t seem to make progress together, then it might mean seeking the husband’s agreement that they would bring a wise biblical counselor into their lives. I don’t think they should be ashamed of that. It is a mark of wisdom and maturity when we admit that we have reached the end of our resources and must seek help from some wise member of the body of Christ.