Don Miller writes in his book, “Searching for God Knows What” about the Benedictine monks, who stayed up late and studied the bible by candlelight.
He wonders what it would be like to sit up late and study the Bible without being tainted by lists and charts and formulas that cause you to look for ideas infer notions that may or may not be in the text, all the while ignoring the poetry, the blood and pain of the narrative and the depth of emotion with which God communicates His truth.
“I think there would be something quite beautiful about reading the Bible this way, to be honest – late at night, feeling through the words, sorting through the grit and beauty.”
He quotes author Kathleen Norris from her book, “The Cloister Walk,” and what she has to say about the monks:
Although their access to scholarly tools was primitive compared to what is available in our day, their method of biblical interpretation was in some ways more sophisticated and certainly more psychologically astute, in that they were better able to fathom the complex, integrative and transfomative qualities of revelation. Their approach was far less narcissistic than our own tends to be, in that their goal while reading scripture was to see Christ in every verse, and not a mirror image of themselves.”
May that be my prayer in the reading and studying of scripture. May I seek to see Christ in scripture and not myself. and may Christ make me more like Him through the process.
