Reading a prayer like that usually levels me. The psalmist’s passionate love for God’s word can make me uncomfortable. The love seems so real, so right, so beautiful—and so foreign, at least some days. Why do I wake up worried about what’s on Twitter, instead of wanting to open the Bible? Why am I more excited to read the best new book on whatever, rather than the only book with the very words of God? Why am I still likely to find my identity and worth in what I have or what I’ve done, instead of what God says about me? Why am I bored reading the Bible while the psalmist is having the time of his life?
He says, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes” (Psalm 119:71). What if you had to pay five dollars every time you read your Bible? What would your Bible budget be this month?
Why Are We Bored?
A lot of us want to relegate love like this to others. Some people love the Bible, and some people love people. Or, some people like to read, and some people like to serve. But the Bible, like the gospel, can’t be relegated only to a few. Bible reading isn’t a spiritual gift like Bible teaching, or biblical counseling, or speaking in tongues. Bible reading and loving is a gift (and calling) for all believers.
Psalm 119 does not model extraordinary Christianity. It’s showing us how people truly in love with God receive actual words from God. They realize the awesome gift they’ve received in this book. When they open their Bibles, or hear the Bible read or preached, they can feel as though God himself were walking down from heaven to speak to them.
I admit I have a hard time remembering and feeling that some mornings. Why are so many Christians bored with the Bible? Because we’ve forgotten what the Bible is.
John Piper reminds us, again, narrating his personal Bible reading with wonder,
Think of it. Marvel at this. Stand in awe of this. The God who keeps watch over the nations, like some people keep watch over cattle or stock markets or construction sites—this God still speaks in the 21st century….By this voice, he speaks with absolute truth and personal force. By this voice, he reveals his all-surpassing beauty. By this voice, he reveals the deepest secrets of our hearts. No voice anywhere anytime can reach as deep or lift as high or carry as far as the voice of God that we hear in the Bible.
Absolute truth. Personal power and relevance. All-surpassing beauty. All-knowing love and wisdom. All from the mind and mouth of God. All in the pages of a book we can hold in one hand.
