Letting scripture read you

Both Christian and Jewish mystics throughout the centuries have urged us to not read scripture, but to let it read us. We can open ourselves up to hearing God's voice speaking to us as we meditatively read scripture. If we do this, we will find that the same passage will say different things to us at different times in our lives.

I experienced this recently. A few weeks ago I was listening to an interview with Robert Alter, who has produced a new translation of the book of Psalms. As he was discussing his translation of Psalm 23, I was taken back to a time many years ago where I had an incredible experience with reading it. It was during a prolonged period where God seemed so distant to me. It seemed like my prayers were just bouncing off of the ceiling. This had been going on for over a year when one night I sat down and read Psalm 23. As I read "Yea, though I walk through the valley of death, You are with me..." I suddenly had this tremendous insight that God was with me this whole time, even though He was "invisible" and that I needed to know that He was present and to trust Him. This brought me great solace.

As I was listening to Robert Alter read his version of Psalm 23, however, I had a very different experience. I realized that rather than God making Himself "invisible" to me, it was the other way around. Lately, I have been holding God at arm's length, not wanting to be too close to Him. I have been avoiding God. In essence, I was the one making Him "walk through a dark valley" through my inattention to His presence. Unlike years ago, where I was fervently seeking Him and He was no where to be found, now God was fervently seeking me and could not "find" me.

So this same passage, read at two different times, years apart, said something different to me. The first one brought me solace and comfort at a time when I really needed it. The second time brought me a challenge and a wake up call to see that I was ignoring God.

I encourage all of you to let scripture read you rather than simply reading scripture. If you do so, in time, you will hear the voice of God speaking to you where you are at right now in the present moment.