Bible Diving: A Better Way To Really Know God
Does my time in God’s Word really belong on the same list as this stuff? No way.
Up and dressed - check.
Bed made - check.
Email reviewed - check.
Work project turned in - check.
Dinner made and dishes in the dishwasher - check.
Bible study homework - check.
Wait…what?
When did my Bible study become just another item to check off my to-do list? I try to swallow the guilt tightening my throat. The Bible is supposed to be priceless, the primary way I hear God’s voice, right? I’m supposed to be madly in love with Him, right? So what happened and how did my Bible study get relegated to the same list as making my bed, as if it’s just a good idea but if it doesn’t happen, oh well?
I shake my head and feel the heat of conviction. I’ve led dozens of Bible study groups, taught a hundred lessons over the years. I do love God and the Word He’s given me. And yet there it is on my to-do list waiting for a little tick mark.
I don’t like it. And I won’t stand for it. So “Bible Study” will not be on my to-do list anymore.
No, I’m not abandoning the Scriptures or a (mostly) daily discipline of reading them. I’m certainly not going to stop using my words to talk and write about The Word — that’s my life! I’m just abandoning the term “study” in favor of something better. Instead of dissecting the Bible to death with bullet points and blanks to fill in, I want to immerse myself in its depths. I want to change my language and my relationship to the Scriptures. And I want to bring as many people along as possible.
I want to go Bible diving.
HAVE WE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS ALL WRONG?
For some years, I’ve noticed that we Westerners tend to approach God’s Word brains first. That’s not surprising since we live in the Information Age. Through a myriad of Internet devices, we’ve got tons of resources literally at our fingertips — commentaries, lexicons, concordances, the words of theologians dating back to the earliest church days (even before!) — all just a quick Google search away. Never has so much information about the Bible been so available to “average Joe” Jesus followers.
“We seem to have bought into the strange notion that knowing God comes from what we put in our heads. That’s not how this works.”
But I don’t think it’s made very many of us more like Jesus. Instead, we seem to have bought into the strange notion that knowing God comes from what we put in our heads. That’s not how this works. Knowing God comes from…well…knowing Him, spending time with Him, talking to Him, hearing from Him. Loving Him. Instead, I’m afraid we’ve allowed the “god” of the Information Age into our churches and our personal times with Jesus in His Word, becoming preoccupied with information and less concerned about truly knowing Him.
Until recently, I haven’t had a good alternative to my usual instructions of “just-do-more-Bible-study-and-you’ll-fall-in-love-eventually” answer to the problem. I follow up with prayers for God to connect our heads with our hearts, to migrate what we learn about Him those 15-inches or so down to our hearts and eventually our hands and feet.
Head knowledge makes us smart, but the Pharisees in Jesus’ day were plenty smart, and look where that got them. Meanwhile, Peter and John were “unschooled, ordinary men….who had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13 NIV) and they turned the world upside-down, mid-wiving the birth of the early church. Apparently, God isn’t looking for smarts when it comes to knowing Him.
So yeah, I think our approach to the Bible might be all wrong.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH BIBLE STUDY?
In the past six months, I’ve met some head-on challenges to the very term “Bible study.” The first came from my agent who works with me to usher what I write into the larger world. She points out that my Bible “lessons” might turn-off some readers before they get past the titles. “Study” and “lessons” sound a lot like “school” and “institution” and she’s absolutely right. I’m a weirdo who loves life-long learning, so the idea of “going to school with Jesus in the Bible” thrills me to no end. But most people aren’t like me, at least not when it comes to God’s Word. We all love to learn about what we have a passion for, and that passion can come from the discipline of learning in the first place, of course. But for folks who don’t know Jesus yet, don’t love Him, have never even owned a Bible, the thought of inviting them to “study” it with me probably won’t fly. After all, if my Bible study only ranks as an item on my to-do list, how can I expect someone who doesn’t know Jesus to get excited about a Bible study, let alone give up time and money for it?
“Study” just sounds like work to me. And we’re already so busy, so overworked. Who’s got time for more? And if getting smarter isn’t the real point anyway, then why bother?
You see my problem.
“It’s supposed to be about getting to know God, not just knowing about Him.”
Now, I’m not saying our heads have nothing to do with interacting with God through the Scriptures. Even God doesn’t say that. He’s got plenty to tell us about “being transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2) and “think about such things” (Philippians 4:8). He designed our brains in the first place. Of course He wants us to use them when we come to His Word. But He’s not satisfied stopping there. I also think too many of us, even as devoted Christians, have stuffed our brains to overfull, tooting our own trumpets as Bible trivia champions, and still somehow missing the point of what Bible study is for in the first place.
It’s supposed to be about getting to know God, not just knowing about Him.
THE DIFFERENCE “YADA” MAKES
Old Testament Hebrews have a word for knowing something through personal experience: “yada.” To “yada” someone is to know them intimately through relationship. It’s even a euphemism for sex. When the Bible says Adam “knew” (“yada”) his wife Eve (Genesis 4:1 KJV), we know they had sex which naturally led to children. Old Testament Hebrews also understand that pagans can’t “yada” God - they can know about God, but can’t really know Him by their own experience because they aren’t in a covenant relationship with Him. Only when God shows up in their lives and they experience Him for themselves can they “yada” Yahweh. (say that seven times fast!) Otherwise, they can “nakar” Him - know about Him and recognize Him from a distance. But “yada” is right out.
Get the difference?
Here’s a cool little side note: God does an awful lot in the Scriptures and our own lives so that His people and everyone else will “yada” that He is God. In the days of the Exodus, Pharaoh admits that he doesn’t “yada” God and so won’t let His people go (Exodus 5:2). In response, God sends ten plagues so the Hebrews AND the Egyptians will “yada” Him (Exodus 7:5). And don’t get me started on Ezekiel. Sixty-three times the prophet explains God’s hard words and tough love actions as the way the Hebrews will “yada” God, His holiness, His jealousy, and His passion for them. They’ll have way more than an intellectual understanding of everything He says in the Law of Moses. They’ll get the pleasure of experiencing both the curses and the blessings of the Law for themselves.
So I’m gut-wrenched at the thought that all my years of Bible study, teaching, and lessons might only help others “nakar” God in their brains when what I really want is for us all to “yada” Him in the most intimate and personal ways possible. This is not a simple item to check off of anyone’s to-do list. To “yada” God has got to be on a completely separate page all on its own.
It’s time for a new approach.
A DIFFERENT WAY TO DIVE IN
If there’s one thing the Old Testament Hebrews and the Pharisees got right, it’s knowing that God wants more than just our heads in the game. Jesus Himself affirms this when He’s asked to pick out God’s top command. He responds with what Jews know as the Shema, a portion of Scripture they traditionally say out loud and check off of their list every day.
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:28-31 NIV emphasis mine)
So yeah, we’re supposed to have our heads in the game. But to “yada” God and love Him, we’re going to have to get our hearts and souls involved along with our strength. It’s a full-body immersion experience.
What if we approached the Bible, His Word, with this immersion idea, with all of who we are dunked under the surface and soaking in it? What if we submerged ourselves into the context that God chooses to speak into, seeing through the eyes of His authors, hearing with the ears of the people who first heard His words on earth? What would we see and hear for ourselves, and what treasures would we bring back with us into the world we live in today?
Well, that sounds a lot less like study and a lot more like an adventure to me. In fact, it sounds something like diving.
Bible diving. Hmmm.
Diving deep into God’s Word - Photo by Steve Halama on Unsplash
Now, I’ve never been scuba diving and I’ve only been snorkeling a few times, but I get the concept. A diver enters a world that isn’t her own, a place she can visit for a while at least. She’ll need training and special gear to be safe, and the more she practices the deeper she can go. She’ll see strange and foreign things, some beautiful and some terrifying. She’ll encounter an environment that’s alive and moving around her, interacting with her. She’ll find long lost treasures that have sunk under the weight of the water and she could choose to bring a few back to the surface. And when she emerges back into the air and her own environment, she’ll be soaked to the skin in the stuff she’s been swimming in. In fact, she’ll drip it all over anyone who comes near.
That’s what I want to do. I want to pack on my Bible tools with all the skills I can muster and jump on into God’s Word. I want to immerse myself in the context as best as I can, enveloping as many of my senses as I can manage into that environment. Who are these people God speaks through? Who are the folks who first hear His words? What’s going on in their lives and their world that helps them make sense of all He says? Why, when He holds time and space in His very hands, does He choose to speak there and then?
I want to explore and breathe and encounter that world, feel it live and move all around me. And I want to come back with treasures in my hands and Living Water in my hair, and let it make a mess all over the floor of my world. I want to dive deep, explore long, and come back changed. And I want you to come, too.
I’ve decided. I’m giving up Bible “study” for good. I’m going Bible diving instead. I want to plunge myself beneath the surface of the Scriptures and get them all up in my hair, let them mess up my makeup and soak into my skin. I want to immerse myself into God’s Word so I can understand with my brain, for sure, but also feel with the rest of me and give my soul space to respond. Yes, I need to be safe, so I need the skill and instruction of a good guide and proper equipment to help me “breathe” underwater. In other words, I still need the protective gear of orthodoxy, commentaries, lexicons, and the like to make sure I don’t drown to death or go someplace unsafe for my understanding of who God is.
And I want to be a good guide for anyone who wants to go Bible diving, too. I’ve got some years of experience under my belt, and I’ve seen a few sights to point out along the way. I love to “scout” ahead and find interesting things to highlight. I love treasure hunting, too, bringing things up from the depths of the verse back to the surface to share and use in the world I live in today.
Come to think of it, this Bible diving immersion thing has sort of been my style all along. It’s why I fell in love with God and His Word in the first place. I’ve just been calling it the wrong thing.
COME BIBLE DIVING WITH ME
With all that in mind, I led my first official Bible Diving Expedition last week into Psalm 46 and had more fun than should be legal. In these days of COVID-19, all expeditions have to be online, of course, which is awesome because anyone all over the world can join in, even replay past excursions. But the real fun is tuning in live for an expedition, sharing what we see together with fellow divers so we all experience more than we ever could on our own. I’ve got two more Bible diving expeditions planned in the next few weeks, and you can bet I’m working on a full slate in the months to come. I’d love to have you join in for one or both of these later this month.
Jonah: A Mini Bible Diving Expedition - Thursday, April 2 at 7PM
We'll dive in with the prodigal prophet as God pursues him from his homeland of Israel to the belly of a fish at the bottom of the sea, all the way to Nineveh in the heart of pagan Assyria. This 90-minute Diving Expedition will reveal God's heart for a disobedient servant, his rebellious people, and the nations who don't even know Him yet. I’ll have an optional Guidebook (Print or Interactive PDF) included for taking notes and going deeper on your own.
Ruth: 7 Session Bible Diving Expedition - Tuesdays, April 7 - May 19, 10AM and 7PM
The story of Ruth may look like a beautiful love story on the surface (and it is). But dive in just a little deeper and we'll see overwhelming beauty in the depths of God's love and plans to redeem not just His people, but the whole world. These four short chapters are layered with messages for all sorts of people-- for women, for outcasts, for "has-beens", and for God's faithful followers. We'll dive into the Scriptures over seven sessions to explore the multi-faceted nature of this small book in our Bibles. Each one-hour session includes a downloadable Guidebook (Print or Interactive PDF) for notes and further exploration. Registration is $25 per person and covers all seven sessions and the Guidebook.
And because I really really want you, dear reader, to come along on this in-depth dive, I’ve created a coupon just for you. When you sign up for the Ruth Expedition, enter “BDBlog20” for $5 off.
SIGN UP FOR THE RUTH EXPEDITION
So can we drop the term Bible “study” and go Bible diving instead? I’d love that. I think others might be more tempted to join us, too. Let me know what you think, and then let’s dive in together.
Can Bible diving be a thing?
Check!
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