I believe in the Word of God. I believe that the Word of God refers to the holy Scriptures as presented in the Bible. I believe the Bible to be inerrant and infallible.

That being said, I confess that I am not always the best at studying it.

I read it. Sometimes, I admit that I speed-read through some of the slower parts, like the genealogies and the laws and all the begats. I can read a text sometimes and go away and not remember a thing, much like the man in the book of James who looks in a mirror and goes away and instantly forgets what he looks like.

But I found this prayer that might be helpful. “We pray for the energy and the courage, that we might not leave the text until we wrench your blessing from it.”

It’s a reference to Jacob wrestling with God, unwilling to let go until God blessed him. Unwilling to let go even though it was crippling him.

How often to I come to the Word of God already thinking about the next task or the next day? How often do I treat reading the very Word of God as an item to be completed and checked off my list rather than an opportunity to hear from God Himself?

Wrestling takes time. Wrestling involves intimacy. As I heard it said once, you can wrestle with someone who’s far away. Wrestling with God in His word means coming close enough to hear His words, and lingering there until I have heard them.

So while I have read the Bible through several times, I can’t really say that I have let the Bible read me. I can’t say that I have given God time to speak to me through the reading of His word.

Lord, give me the courage and the patience to not leave your Word until I have indeed wrenched a blessing from it and heard from You. Amen.