Slumps and Scripture

“Oh No! Not a slump!” she exclaimed. My toddler’s voice was distraught as she sat uneasy in my lap. She was eager to change the environment just as the protagonist in the story was ready to leave the slump. Enveloped by narrative, in that moment her reality extended as far as the page, the slump.

In contrast, I approach the text like an autopsy. Cut, open, and dissect. Impersonal and mechanical motions: I take it apart, analyze it, sew it up, make a judgment and walk away. I wash my hands and am done.

I think about how I read Scripture, the unfolding Drama of Christ, redemptive history. The story of a triune God bringing His wayward creation back into relationship and restoration, back into communion. As I read the account, the fall, patriarchs, law, kings, exile, I see the names and events scrolling across like a marquee at the DMV. They might be related to what is happening, but the text is not real to me and it does not affect me. I don’t get distraught when I see the story unraveling.

Story is not intended to be treated as such. Story is meant to carry the reader away into a world constructed by carefully placed words (and sometimes pictures). The reader encounters drama and meets new characters; all of the elements are woven together carefully by its author. Yet, I settle on being an observer. Disconnected, I neglect God’s reality unfolding around me. I don’t feel the emotion, as a two year old does when she encounters a lurch, slump, or wocket displayed on the page.

Yet Jesus says that isn’t how I am to read His Word. He says all Scripture is about Him (Luke 24). When I read His testimony I should be seeing the glory of Christ, the Gospel. My reality is to extend as far as the page because the page is anchored in a deeper reality, an eternal reality, a heavenly reality; it is the reality that incarnated in history and is recorded in Scripture. Scripture is present not for us to merely know God, but to participate, to commune, and to enjoy Him.

Lord, envelope us in the narrative as we read your Word, pray your Word, meditate on your Word, and live your Word.