Why You're Still Confused By The Bible

"Why You're Still Confused By The Bible" (The Way You Read the Bible Matters)

Many Christians sincerely love God—but still struggle to understand His Word.

With more Bible apps, podcasts, devotionals, and teaching resources than ever before, why is biblical literacy declining?

In this episode of The Higher Pursuit Podcast, we're talking about one of the most important questions every believer should ask:

How am I approaching Scripture?

Drawing inspiration from the opening chapters of Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin, we'll discuss:

• Four common mistakes Christians make when studying the Bible
• Why reading for application before interpretation often leads to misunderstanding
• Why context matters
• The danger of treating Scripture like a collection of inspirational quotes
• How knowing God—not just collecting verses—transforms our lives

Most importantly, we'll discover why Scripture was written first and foremost to reveal God.

The Bible wasn't primarily written to answer the question, "Who am I?" It was written to answer the question, "Who is God?" And once we rightly know Him, we finally understand who we are.

If you've ever felt intimidated by Bible study, wondered where to begin, or desired a deeper relationship with God through His Word, this episode is for you.

 Bring your Bible. Grab a notebook. Come with an open heart.

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Thank you for being part of the Higher Pursuit community. I'm grateful you're here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

When everything in your life is on fire, those 14 scriptures that you memorized aren't going to be enough to carry you. Especially, guys, when it seems like they aren't working. And I've had many seasons where all the scriptures that I've been speaking over a situation don't seem to be working. And there was one season in particular where I felt like I had an absolute fake failure because I had prayed a certain way and we got a different result. And I was in a tailspin. And it's in those situations that you need a deeper revelation of who God is. A God who is so beyond the control of human reason, but who desires to reveal himself to us. You need a revelation of his goodness, his love, his greatness, his holiness, his majesty, his sovereignty, his delight in you, his cherishing and protection of you. All that revelation is what will carry you through the valley of the shadow of death. So only a real understanding of the God we serve and of Jesus Christ can hold you when everything else is shaking. For more content, check out our ministry website at HigherPursuit Ministries.com. You can also find me on YouTube at Cecily LaChapelle with Higher Pursuit Ministries. Okay, now let's dive into the podcast. Welcome to the Higher Pursuit Live Stream and Podcast, a place where together we're pursuing more of God in the middle of our everyday, sometimes noisy lives. We're seeking to know the Lord more intimately, to hear his voice more clearly, to root ourselves more securely in the truth revealed in Scripture. Amen. Well, I know that many of you joining tonight were expecting to see me go live. So let me explain the shift in this episode. My husband and I have friends visiting visiting us from France, and we also have our daughter from New Orleans staying with us. So last week I realized that trying to fit in a live stream while trying to host people that I only see once a year was probably not the best idea. So I took the opportunity to create a video where I could expound on some thoughts that I've had on why the way you study the Bible matters. Some of these things I've touched on in the Word Alive series, but I just wanted to create a succinct video, and that's the one you're seeing now. So just as I mentioned, the topic that we're diving into in this video is are you reading the Bible or are you studying yourself? Why the way you read the Bible matters. Now, I want to give a shout out to a really great book. I've told you all through the Word Alive series that I'm going to tell you about resources that I've read that have really helped me, either in my studying journey or even in my teaching journey. And this book is really a great book that has impacted me in both arenas. And it's by Jen Wilken and it's called Women of the Word. And this book helped me kind of organize some of the thoughts that I've had and that I've been talking to you all about. But what I want to talk to you about is not for women only. Guys, this topic that we're going to explore today is definitely a non-gender specific issue in the body of Christ. And let me frame it out for you. Many Christians genuinely love God, but they struggle to understand his word. Right? Bible study has never been more accessible. I mean, you can have tons of apps right here on your phone. Yet biblical literacy has never been lower. How can that be? It's sort of like we have more ways now to communicate with people, and yet people feel more isolated than ever. And when it comes to reading your Bible, we often confuse reading devotionally with studying intentionally. Let me say that again. We often confuse reading devotionally with studying intentionally. So let me make a personal connection for you. I want to tell you how my own Bible study changed because when I stopped looking for primarily for what the Bible said about me and began asking what it revealed about God, it changed how I studied the word and how I approached the word. So back when I came to faith was in the 1980s, and I went immediately into a charismatic church. Now, a charismatic church is a Bible-believing, spirit-filled church that believes that the charismata, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, have not ceased to be manifesting in the church. I still believe that. I still go to, I think, what would be considered a charismatic church. But back then, the church that I went to taught me not blatantly, but um sort of, I don't know, subtly, how to cherry-pick scriptures so that I could name it and claim it. I chose the prosperity scriptures for my prayers that God was going to prosper me. I chose peace and blessing scriptures. I chose joy scriptures. So I cherry-picked scriptures so that I could claim those in my life. I had no idea what the context was, why that scripture was written, who wrote that scripture, who that audience was that first heard that scripture. That didn't matter to me. All that mattered to me was basically like my coffee cup logo that I could quote. So, like I said, I still consider myself functionally a charismatic Christian, but I am so glad that I have moved away from that Bible study method of the name it or claim it method. Because guess what? That doesn't work when life hits everything, when everything in your life is on fire. Those 14 scriptures that you memorized aren't going to be enough to carry you. Especially, guys, when it seems like they aren't working. And I've had many seasons where all the scriptures that I've been speaking over a situation don't seem to be working. And there was one season in particular where I felt like I had an absolute faith failure because I had prayed a certain way and we got a different result. And I was in a tailspin. And it's in those situations that you need a deeper revelation of who God is, a God who is so beyond the control of human reason, but who desires to reveal himself to us. You need a revelation of his goodness, his love, his greatness, his holiness, his majesty, his sovereignty, his delight in you, his cherishing and protection of you. All of that revelation is what will carry you through the valley of the shadow of death. So only a real understanding of the God we serve and of Jesus Christ can hold you when everything else is shaking. So that is why Christians must learn how to study their Bibles instead of always having someone else do the studying for us. And that's why we are in this series, the Word Alive series. So today we're going to talk about some of the most common mistakes that we make when studying scripture and why learning to study it correctly changes everything. So let's start here. I think we can all agree that many believers genuinely desire to know God. That would be you, wouldn't it? But desire alone doesn't automatically produce understanding. Haven't you noticed that? I mean, I'm sure you have tons of desire to know God, to be closer to Him, but that hasn't automatically produced understanding in your life. And unfortunately, we often inherit Bible study habits that were never actually taught in scripture. I've already touched on one of them, but let's talk about them. One of the habits we picked up is looking for a verse that makes us feel better. That's the one that I was just talking about. Or a verse that we can claim over a situation. Or we study the Bible searching only for practical advice, or reading isolated verses without context, or depending entirely on pastors, teachers, or devotionals to expound the Bible for us. And I've talked about this in the Word Alive class tons, where I have no problem with the UVersion Bible app or daily devotions or any of that. But if that is the only way we are finding Bible truth, then we are living on regurgitated truth that someone else dug for, someone else chewed up that meat and ate the bread and drank the wine of the meal of God, of the word of God, of the presence of Jesus, and then regurgitated out this truth that was supposed to encourage and edify the saints. And it was supposed to impart to you the desire to do what that believer did. But unfortunately, that's not usually how we interpret devotions. When we read a Charles Spurgeon, for instance, we should want to have that vibrant, deep walk with God that He had that could cause him to week after week come up with these sermons that are so theologically deep that you need a crane just to get out. We should want to live like a Priscilla Shirer who can read the Bible, put all these pieces together and give us an analogy that we walk away remembering the rest of our life. We should all want to have that walk. But most of the time, we just go to a Priscilla Shirer or a Charles Spurgeon or a John Piper or someone like that. And we say, give me what you worked for so that I don't have to work for it. So reading devotions in themselves, that's not sinful, of course not. It's just incomplete. It's just supposed to be an appetite wetter. It's not supposed to be the whole meal. Hi, everybody. While I hate to interrupt a good discussion, I do want to tell you about my book, Repurpose Your Pain: Moving from Pain to Purpose and from Instability to Firm Faith. In the book, I share 10 pain points that are common to most people, and I share my personal stories, my experiences with those pain points, and how I repurposed that pain. Then we dive into what the Word of God has to say about how we repurpose that pain. You need to know that this book is really two books in one because it includes workbook activations to help you apply the truth that you've learned to your life. So grab your copy today on Amazon, Christian Book Distributors, or any place books are sold. So here's the key thought that I want you to hear. And we need to ask ourselves the tough questions. Why am I not studying the Bible? Is it because it will stretch me? Is it because it's going to take time or effort? And let's take this even deeper. Do I subconsciously not think it's worth the effort? Do I believe that I'm actually able to live my life without the revelation of God? Do I believe that somehow other people are more spiritual than me? And that I'm just not going to be able to ever get anything out of it. We need to ask these honest and raw questions. And we need to be ready to take our answers to the Lord and repent for partnering with the lies that keep us out of the truth of God's word and away from intimacy with Him. So now let's talk about the wrong ways we often read the Bible. And while I hate to focus on the negative, I'm going to take the opportunity in this video to focus on a few of the wrong ways to do it. So that because in Word Alive, hopefully we're covering the right ways to do it. So the first wrong way that I think we study the Bible is we make the Bible primarily about us. We ask questions like, well, what does this mean to me? How does this help my life? What's my takeaway? Now, guys, these questions aren't wrong. In fact, I teach in the Word Alive series that we have to make personal application from scripture. And there's nothing wrong with these questions. It's just that they're not supposed to be the first questions. The first question should always be what does this teach me about God? And then everything else flows from that. Wrong way number two. We read for immediate application before understanding. Guys, if you have joined me in any of this Word Alive series, you are hearing me say over and over and over, read for context. If there's an old testament reference, go back and read it for context. If there are parallel accounts in other gospels, read them all for context. Don't just take a scripture out of context without understanding some very important things. Who wrote it? Who was it written to? Why was it written? What was happening when that scripture was written? Application without interpretation easily becomes misapplication. And we don't want to do that. All right, wrong way number three. We treat the Bible like a collection of inspirational quotes. Kind of like a whole store of Hobby Lobby plaques that have all these lovely sayings on them that not only look pretty but give us inspiration. Instead of reading whole books, we consume disconnected verses. I call that cherry picking or hobby lobby inspiration. But you know what this does? This causes us to miss the sore storyline. We miss the context, the author's purpose. We miss God's unfolding plan. So in the book that I was talking to about Women of the Word, the author Jen gave a really great analogy. So she talked about how every summer, I think, she and her family take a trip, and it's a very long trip for where they are in the middle of the country out west. And so as they're passing through all these different terrains and different states, her husband, who's like a, I guess a real big like kind of map guru or geography guru, he'd be telling his kids, okay, now we're going into the, you know, whatever region. I can't even remember because I'm not a geography guru. But anyway, so he's quoting all these parts of the country and geographic um, you know, the formations and things like that. And she said it meant as much to her as it meant to their children, who were kind of like, Dad, we have no idea what you're talking about. She said, until she took a flight that pretty much went over, they were flying over on a clear day almost the entire trip that they would normally be driving. And she said, from 35,000 feet, looking down, she could see the terrain he was talking about, the mountain ranges and the um the flat mountains, whatever the mesas and things like that. She could see it all. And all of a sudden, all of his words made sense to her because she was looking at it from the vantage point of being high above it, looking down on the topography that he had been describing with his words. And her point was, and the point I want to make is the same that if we don't get a high enough view, if we don't take in a whole book of the Bible, if we don't take in the history and the culture, we are literally just driving through scripture, looking at a little mountain over here and a little mountain over there, not understanding all these mountains are connected and they're all part of this a massive mountain range, the Sierra Nevadas or the Cascades or whatever. We don't understand the connection of it all. But when you study for context, it forces you to go higher and higher and higher to see what God was doing, what he was doing with a whole people group, what he has been doing from Genesis to Revelation, how Jesus is the scarlet thread that weaves through every single book of the Bible. So that's why we want to read for context. All right, let's talk about wrong way number four. We depend on someone else's study. I think I kind of already talked about this quite a bit, but there's podcasts, commentaries, YouTube teachers, devotionals. And these are wonderful resources. I hope they are because I'm one of them. But they should supplement your study, not replace it. God intends for every believer to grow in handling his word. We are supposed to study to show ourselves approved. We're supposed to study so that we can give an answer to anyone who asks us to defend our faith, to explain our faith. And it's only through having that understanding and that revelation of God that we can. And another reason that you want to study the word correctly, and this isn't a wrong way, this is just a reason, is because you can't love a God you don't know. You can't love somebody you don't know. I love my husband on such a deeper level, 26 years later, than I did when I was all googly eyed and said I do. Why? Because I know this man when I'm throwing up. I know this man after I've donated a kidney and I can barely walk. I know this man when our finances are under attack. I know this man. Man, when our kids are in rebellion and are talking rudely to him and deserve to be slapped across the face, and he is holding himself back and showing such self-control and then showing love and forgiveness and moving forward. Like I know this man in his worst and in his best, in my worst and in my best. And because I know him more, I love him more. So our view of God shapes everything. This is why you want to know God as well as you possibly can, because it shapes your worship. I'm telling you, you can't worship God if you only know like two thoughts about him. You, your worship can only go that far. It's like being a baby who can only say mama and dada. But how incredible is it when you have an amazing vocabulary, and now you could write poetry and express the most beautiful imagery in words because you've worked at learning vocabulary words and using them well. And all of the vocabulary of faith is in the Bible. There is so much vocabulary of worship, of faith, of prayer, of promise, of victory, of warfare. It's all there. And additionally, our view of God shapes our faith. When you read the word and you see how God has treated and handled his people when they're in rebellion, when they're walking in faith, when they do things right, when they fail. How is God handling all of that? It also shapes how you see your obedience. And that's a that's a really big one for me because so many times it's easy for me to slip into some subconscious rebellion where I'm just going about my life. I'm just, I'm just doing me and be, you know, living out of my soul or living out of my flesh. And then I read a scripture and it's like, oh wow, that couldn't be more clear. Now we're chucking corn, God. Yep, I see it now. Wow, thank you for that. And I can repent, I can apply the blood, I can remove the shame, and then I can walk in freedom. But if I don't know God in the Word, and if I don't have a relationship with Him through the Word, then those moments can't happen. And our view of God also shapes our trust. Boy, does it shape my trust. I can't tell you how many times I have been in a circumstance and I have reminded myself. Joseph was in a situation, Cecily, where all of his dreams seemed to be going up in smoke. Every single thing that God spoke to him seemed to not be happening. In fact, the worst seemed to be happening, and yet he still trusted God. And what did God do? God promoted him at just the right time. So, Cecily, if he did it for Joseph, he can do it for you. There have been times that I've had to remind myself of things that God has done, rehearsing his works, knowing that God is not, he doesn't play favorites. And that what he did for one, he will do for me. So, reason number two why we study God's word the right way is because right doctrine produces right living. Behavior follows belief. Whatever you believe is how you behave. If we misunderstand God, we misunderstand ourselves. We'll misunderstand salvation, we'll misunderstand suffering, we'll misunderstand obedience, we'll misunderstand the importance of following Jesus. So all healthy spiritual growth begins with an accurate knowledge of God. Reason number three: the Bible transforms us by renewing our minds. I was just telling a young lady I was speaking to today about this that real transformation isn't produced merely by emotional experiences. And it's also not produced by listening to or reading information given to us by someone else who's already experienced that transformation. It can frame it out for us. It can give us a vision for it. And if it's anointed in the word, it can begin transformation. But true, real lasting transformation happens as truth reshapes our thinking. So the goal isn't simply information, it's transformation through truth. And reason number four, we become more discerning. So every day we hear sermons, podcasts, reels, influencers, news reports. We read books, but not all teaching is equally full of faith. Not all information is correct. I think we all know that. Knowing scripture helps us recognize truth from error. Discernment grows from familiarity with God's word. I'm sure many of you have heard this story, but the way that banks teach bank tellers to recognize counterfeit money is by causing them to study the real dollar bills, the real $100 or $1,000 bill. I don't even know if there is a $1,000 bill. I've never seen one. But that's what they what they do. They have to study the real. Every little dot, every little watermark, every single square millimeter of those bills. They have to study so that when they're looking at a counterfeit, they recognize it right away. They don't study the counterfeits because there's way too many counterfeits, but there's only one real thousand dollar bill. There's only one real $100 bill. So all they have to do is study the real one, and all the counterfeits will become obvious. So all we have to do is study the word. And everything that is a lie and that is counterfeit will become immediately obvious to us. We won't fall for the deception of the enemy. Like I was telling this young lady today, I said, you know, what the enemy wants to do is he wants to make us like a frog and he wants to boil us slowly. But when we're in the word of God, we feel the heat much quicker. We can jump right out of that pan awfully fast. When we are immersed in God's word, he can speak to us and give us that discernment. So here are the practical takeaways and the personal challenge that I'm going to give you for this week until we meet again. I want to encourage you to begin slowing down when you read the word. This is the main reason why in the Word Alive series, we're going verse by verse through Matthew. I used an analogy in one of the first sessions that we're like the guy at the beach with the metal detector. You've seen those guys, right? They patiently, systematically go back and forth, back and forth, combing the beach, waving his metal detector across the sand until he hears that beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. And then what does he do? He gets out his shovel and he starts digging. Well, that's what we do with scripture. We are systematically combing through verses until all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it seems, a bell starts to go off on the inside of us, like whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop. And we think, oh my gosh, this is a place the Holy Spirit wants me to dig deeper. So we take out our resources and we begin to dig and we begin to see what the Lord wants to uncover for us within that verse. So here's your challenge, guys. Instead of first asking, what does this mean to me, ask, what does this passage teach me about God? What did the original author intend? What was happening in this passage? How does this fit into the larger narrative of scripture? And only then, once we know those answers, who is the author, who is the audience, what was happening culturally, historically, only then do we ask, if and now, how should this change me? Remember, higher pursuit tribe. Deep Bible study isn't reserved for pastors and scholars. I hope you know that by now. It is the privilege of every child of God. We're part of a family. What father doesn't want to talk to his kids? What children don't want to talk to their father unless it's a dysfunctional family? And ours is not dysfunctional. You may have been in a dysfunctional family, but you have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son. And you now have a place at the table. The father wants to hear your voice, and more than that, well, not more than that, but equal with that. He wants you to hear his voice. And one of the primary ways he's going to speak to you and tell you how awesome he is, how wonderful he is, how he is for you, how he is good, how he can be trusted, how he is a God of covenant. It comes through a proper study of the Bible. So let me leave you with this encouragement. The greatest Bible study gift isn't more knowledge. It's a clearer vision of the God we love. The goal isn't simply to finish another chapter. No, it is to know the author more intimately. And I just want to invite you to spend this week reading one chapter of scripture slowly. Just take one and ask first, what does this reveal about the character, the nature, and the purposes of God? Remember, the Bible was not written primarily to answer this question. Who am I? No, it was written to answer the question, who is God? And once we rightly know Him, then we can really understand who we are. So I just want to thank you so much for tuning into this video. I hope that you got blessed by it. And if you haven't subscribed to this YouTube channel, and if you're getting any benefit from the content that I'm sharing, I would humbly ask you to subscribe. And also just check to make sure you are subscribed because I know some people say they are. And then I look at the YouTube stats and they might not be. And also, if you are subscribed, make sure to hit that notification bell. And then if you look for your notifications on your phone, you also have to enable YouTube notifications on your phone. You can have enabled them on YouTube, but when YouTube goes to notify you, if you haven't decided how you want to see that notification, it won't send it. And if you're listening to this as an audio podcast, I would just simply ask if you would kindly rate the show and like the video if you're watching it on YouTube. And if you're feeling especially generous, please take the time to leave a comment. I love to see and respond to the comments. And you know what? In some small way, you're becoming a part of the success of this podcast and this ministry. So I thank you for that. Let me close in prayer. Heavenly Father, I'm just asking you, Holy Spirit, to cultivate a heart that hungers for truth on the inside of each one of us. Give us minds that rightly divide and handle the word of God. Help us to become students of the word who study to show ourselves approved. Help us to walk in the footsteps of Rabbi Jesus. We know how much of your word he spoke. It just came out of him. He knew your word. I and we understand, Lord, that he was the word. But his example to us is that his word can be in us as well. And it can just come up and out of us as part of our conversation, as part of our thoughts. When you ask us to think on things that are pure and lovely and holy and of a good report, we can't do that unless we see those things in the word and we see what is pure and holy and lovely and of a good report. Otherwise, our minds are going to be just caught in the mire of life on this fallen planet. So, Father, reveal yourself to us this week as we open your word. And for those who are struggling, those who are feeling like, oh gosh, I know I should be in the Bible, but I'm just not finding that time, or I just keep putting it off and I don't know why. I just ask in the name of Jesus that you would pour out a grace upon them this week to schedule that time, to put it in their calendar, to do what they would do with any appointment, regularly scheduling a scheduled appointment, and that even if they have to move that appointment to later in the day, that it's there on their calendar, that they will create the godly habit of carving out enough time to really get into your word every day, understanding that this is of eternal importance. So I thank you for this, God. I thank you for this work. And I just bless your people in the mighty, holy, majestic, and matchless name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Well, thanks for joining me. And may God bless you in your pursuit of the Lord through his word this week. Bye. Hey family, I pray that you were blessed and encouraged by that episode and that you took away something you can use in your walk with the Lord starting today. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. So I thank you for making me a part of your pursuit. Until next time, abide in Him.