There are moments when God does something so good, so unexpected, and so redemptive that it feels like your heart skips ahead of your words. Did you know there's a bidi bidi bom bom moment in the Bible?
Selena fans know what that means. It's the sound your heart makes when you're in love. As the prophet Isaiah saw it, it's what your heart does when you're in awe.
In Isaiah 60, God's people heard the promise that God's light would shine on them. It would shine so much upon them that nations would come to honor God. They would bring their wealth with them, and the people would see it as a sign of God's blessing. No more would they see exile or know desolation. The Lord would bring prosperity to them.
As a result, the prophet says their heart "shall thrill and rejoice." That's not a generic sense of happiness. It is a deep joy that moves your whole being. There's a sense that their heart would swell with joy. It's meaningful because this joy would rise within a people who had learned to expect loss more than abundance. It's also important, I think, to recognize that the promise of this heart-shaking joy came before the people actually experienced it. It was something they could expect to come in time.
When we sing "Joy to the world," that's what I hope we are experiencing. Christ has come as our light. Through the person of Jesus, God has brought to us immeasurable blessings. We may not experience, understand, or appreciate them all at once. But when we learn to pay attention to how God has provided for us, that's when we learn the joy that comes from knowing God.
In Christ, your circumstances don't dictate your joy. When you're in awe of God, joy teaches you how to trust, to hope, and to praise again. So, pay attention to the moments your heart responds before your words do.
Recently, I picked up a Bible someone gave me when I was new to faith. As I flipped through it, I noticed the notes scribbled in the margins and the verses I had underlined or highlighted. Honestly, some of it was pretty basic. But what else would you expect from someone just beginning to read Scripture?
Someone wiser than me must have encouraged me to simply start reading and not worry about understanding everything all at once. Those simple observations and even the silly questions represent my first steps of faith. They were exactly what I needed at the time.
I share that because I think many of us hesitate to read the Bible for a strange reason. We feel like we should already have it figured out. Say that out loud, and it sounds a bit silly. Everything you know about anything starts somewhere. Yet sometimes we act as if angels are supposed to sing the moment we open our Bible, or every page turn should come with a dramatic spiritual breakthrough.
There are moments when the light bulb comes on, so to speak, when something you read opens your eyes or reshapes your heart. Thank God for those moments. But most of the time, it’s just you and the Bible, or you, a small group, and the Bible. You read, you reflect, and you trust the Holy Spirit to work over time. And you can trust that the Spirit will.
There’s usually no special feeling that comes with reading Scripture.
That's something Joshua would need to understand. As he prepared to lead God’s people after Moses died, God gave him a promise and a charge to remain faithful. To be strong and courageous, rooted in the instruction he had received, and to keep God’s word close. That's how he knew he could fulfill what was before him.
Like Joshua, you don’t need all the answers before you begin. Be strong and courageous enough to open the Bible again today and tomorrow, even if it feels pointless or like you're not getting anywhere with it. By the power of God's Spirit, God’s word does its work through your steady attention.
