Lenten Reflection for February 29th

When I was in college I had to take a few courses regarding religion and theology. I still have a few of the books on my bookshelf at home as they can be good for reference.  One of the textbooks I needed to study, however, was the most incredibly wordy and dense books on Christian Doctrine I have ever seen. 

A thick hardcover book with page after page of tiny writing, crammed together on every page. It is still absolutely overwhelming to try to look at and read. Yes, it’s still on my shelf! I will admit, I could hardly get through one chapter without my mind starting to wander and the words blurring on the pages. I just couldn’t understand what the authors were talking about, nothing made sense. Long, complex words were given definitions that contained even longer and more complicated words that weren’t given definitions. 

Much of the book didn’t make sense to me at the time, but as life went on, I read other resources, gained life experience and learned many lessons that helped me to understand the concepts the textbook was getting at. 

Sometimes reading and pondering Scripture can feel overwhelming like that textbook was for me. There are passages, verses, histories, concepts and phrases that can be difficult to comprehend. This is one area where the Gift of Understanding from the Holy Spirit can help us. 

After the crucifixion, Jesus’ disciples were dejected and in mourning for who they hoped would be the Messiah. They couldn’t see and understand the connection between what he had taught them in his lifetime with the teachings and prophecies of the Old Testament. But we read in Luke’s Gospel, before Jesus ascended into Heaven, he tells his disciples, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures…” (Luke 24:44-45) and they recognised and understood the meaning.

The textbook I have serves its purpose for providing information, but the Holy Scriptures are far more fruitful and life-giving to our heart and soul. Let’s pray for an increase in the gift of Understanding whenever we feel overwhelmed or uncertain about opening our Bible and dwelling in the Word.

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

Throughout our schooling some textbooks we need to study may make us feel confused as we don’t understand the topics or some of the words. 

When this is the case, sometimes we need to read other books on the same subject that we might understand more easily or learn through our own experiences.

The Bible can be hard to understand sometimes. It has a lot of words and some of the stories don’t make much sense. Some of the people we read about do or say things that can be confusing.

To help us with this, we can pray and ask God to give us Understanding, a Gift of the Holy Spirit.  We read in Luke’s Gospel how Jesus helped his followers to understand his teachings that had been confusing to them before.

 As we continue to learn to read the Bible, we will start to see how it works within our life each day. God bless you!