Episode #334 What Do You Do When the Bible Stops Making Sense – Learning to Enjoy Life with God

Hey, friend. Have you ever opened your Bible, sat down to read, and it just felt broken? It was dry or disappointing, or it didn't connect to what you really needed. You were coming to God with questions and maybe even a pain that you needed him to heal or excitement about what he would share with you, and instead, it just felt like it wasn't landing, like it wasn't working. If you've been there before, maybe even today, I come with encouragement for you.

God is not rejecting you or avoiding you. He's also not being silent. He tells us that when we come to him and call on him, he will answer us. And so I'm coming with encouragement today because as we walk with the Lord, as we read our Bibles, it doesn't always come easy.

The passage of Scripture I wanna read for us today comes from John chapter 6. This is a hard passage of Scripture. It's one of those times in Jesus' life and ministry on earth where I sit back and I'm like, wow, what were you doing here? Lord, this feels like a really hard teaching that I, as a Bible teacher, would've wanted to go back and re-explain or soften in some kind of way to make it easier to understand. But Jesus didn't do that.
John chapter 6 begins with the account of Jesus feeding the 5,000. This is a moment that feels like momentum is building, right? Like all these people, they're excited about who Jesus is and his ministry. And then he starts teaching them about how he is the bread of life. And he relates this to what the Israelite people know about their history. Way back in the time of Moses, God fed the people with manna from heaven, and Jesus says, Hey, God fed you this way back in the time of Moses, but I am the true bread of life.

And then picking it up in John chapter 6, verse 41, it says, “Then they complained about him because he said, ‘I am the bread of life who came down from heaven.’”

And Jesus is like, hey, don't murmur. Don't complain about this. This is true about me.

And he doubles down saying, “You must eat of me. If anyone eats of this bread, you'll live forever. And the bread I give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

And so then the crowd is grumbling even more and they're quarreling amongst themselves. How can this man give us his flesh to eat?!

And Jesus says, “Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

Jesus hasn't died and resurrected yet, right? Like we can read this in the context of Jesus giving his life. But Jesus doesn't explain any of that here. He doesn't say, no, you don't actually have to be a cannibal to eat me. He just says it at face value and leaves it there. And this is hard for them to understand, like it sounds kind of gross. And so when this happens, jumping ahead to verse 66, it says “… many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”

And this is the core of where we're going today.

Verse 67- 69 states, “So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

That really is the crux of the matter, right? When we come to God, when we come to times of reading our Bible, when we read something and it doesn't seem like it makes sense to what we actually need to today or to the context of our world, we are given a similar opportunity.

Are we going to choose like the crowd did? To leave, to say, nevermind, I'm not about this anymore. Or we can respond like Simon Peter did? Where am I gonna go? God, this feels dry right now. God, I'm confused. This is hard for me, but I know that you are God. I know that only in you can I find the words of eternal life. And so I refuse to stop. I refuse to turn somewhere else to try and find satisfaction. I don't want to find just a momentary thing that fills me for today. I want the eternal life that you offer, so I'm not going anywhere.

I have walked this out and I've walked with people through this in really hard circumstances. When we turn to Scripture, seeking the Lord in it, and it doesn't feel like it's connecting like it does other times. Where we have more questions than answers. And every time that happens, it's an invitation to receive more, to reflect and say, okay, God, I know who you are and I want to know more of you.

Dryness or discontent isn't failure. It's an invitation to receive something new.

And here's a question that you can take to God today, because even if today was an amazing day with your Bible open, there's more I know he wants to share with you.

God, what's something new that you're challenging me with as I read the Bible?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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