26 Tips for Understanding the Bible

Reading the Bible can be so, so hard.

That's what I've been hearing from women just about everywhere. Between conversations with the wonderful ladies in my small group, to informal polls online, to overhearing conversations between leaders at the camp where I work, the biggest struggle for so many of us is reading the Word of God.

And I get it. 

Because it's a big struggle for me, too.

And just like all those others who I've been hearing from (and eavesdropping on), I know that reading the Bible is important. And sometimes, I know that I'm standing in my own way.


The Bible is the very word of God. It's a gift. But sometimes, I get hung up. I get hung up... because is the Bible really necessary to my daily life? Is it really enough? Is it really the one true authority?

Is the Bible really understandable?

Promises in the Bible

Original Image used with Permission

The first few steps on this painful path were so... unexpected.

I didn't deal with it well.

I was angry and confused, but most of all, I felt so isolated. Infertility, like many other hurts in life, can do that.



Everyone in my life has kids. Many of my friends are on kid number two or three. Some have even completed their families.

Add to it the fact that I work at a Bible Camp- kids everywhere all the time, even babies and toddlers during the family camp weeks, and I’m surrounded.

I’m surrounded by the stuff of family life. The playpens and high chairs and strollers. The school trips and loose teeth.

My home is different than the houses of our friends, different than the activity at work. It’s quiet without the shrieks, chatter, and laughter of children.

In those early days, I really felt like the one still frame in a scene of activity. All around me there’s this flurry, fast-paced and noisy, but I’m standing motionless.

Frozen. Conspicuous because of what’s missing.

I stick out in the middle of all the life.

Who Cares about Cubits? or, What We Can Learn from the Tabernacle {Guest Post}

And now for something a little different... I asked (more like begged) my dear friend Cryss to write a post for this series on knowing the Bible, even the confusing parts. 

Why did I ask Cryss? Because she's wise, honest, friendly, and most of all, she has a passion for a particular part of the Bible that I find... challenging. Namely, she loves the Tabernacle-- and I can't make heads or tails of it. Take it away, Cryss!

_____________________

First off, I would like to say thank you to Ally for letting me write this post for her blog.

Not only is she an amazing blogger, I am privileged to call her co-worker and most importantly…friend. I love how she is so willing to put her heart out there for the benefit of us, the readers. So…thanks, Ally!

So a little background on me.

My name is Cryss and I am married to a wonderful man and we have two beautiful girls. Like I said above, I am a co-worker with Ally at camp and also work for another non-profit ministry that has a maternity home for unwed young women experiencing an unexpected pregnancy. I get to do the majority of the accounting work for both of these organizations. Yup, I’m a numbers girl =)

I am NOT a theologian by any stretch of the imagination, but I do love the Lord and I love His Word. I hope that I can help shed some light on this topic, but I would encourage everyone to do their own studying and not just take my word for it.

Ally and I had been in a group together when talk turned to the Tabernacle. I guess I may have been a little too passionate about talking about it, because now I find myself here!

Ally presented some questions to me, and I will do my best to answer them. They are:

Why present so much information about the Tabernacle/Temple in the first place? 

Why does it matter, anyway? 

Bible Commentaries: or, You Don't Have to Be a Professor to Read a Commentary, I Promise

My freshman year of college, with a little bit of never-been-away-from-home-sickness, I went to the college bookstore and purchased... my books.

(In hindsight: why did I go to the college bookstore and not Amazon or Half.com? I was young and stupid, apparently.)

And then I sat on a bench outside the library a ways and called my mom. Because of the homesickness. And to cry a little.

After a long heart-to-heart, I walked back to my dorm... without the books. It wasn't until hours later that I realized my mistake. I rushed back over to the bench, but the books were gone. I checked the lost and found, went back to the bookstore to see if they'd been returned, panicked a lot, but they were gone.

Genealogies in the Bible, and Why They Matter

I swung my feet, careful not to kick the pew in front of me, which I knew would get me a look (you know that look) from my mom. The sister on my left was sitting on the floor, using the seat of the pew as a desk, as she carefully colored in Father Abraham's sandals a shade of puke green.

I sighed heavily and picked up my Adventure Bible, flipping through it to the beginning of the chapter the pastor was preaching on.

Lists of names that I couldn't even begin to try to pronounce- how boring!

Who cares who begot whom? I felt my eyes glazing over... rescued only by my mom passing the traditional mid-church-peppermints down the aisle.

When the Bible Makes No Sense

Have you ever gotten to a passage in Scripture and thought, "What?!?"

Or maybe, "... Whaaaaa....?"

Yeah. Me too.

(Like, the entire book of Leviticus.)

So, what do you do when the Bible is confusing or makes no sense?

Throw in the towel? I know that sometimes, that's exactly what I do.

But!

We know that the Bible is not only important, but it's living, true, and the Word of God. And we serve a God who loves us enough to make His character, His will, and His Word clear to us.

Sometimes, reading the Bible can be confusing, but we are so fortunate to have tons of resources at our disposal. Tons.

Here are just a few of my tips for when you come across those makes-no-sense Scriptures.

Light to My Feet

Original image used with permission- thanks to Amidst the Chaos!

A couple days ago, I tripped over the leg of the ladder that’s sitting outside the bathroom door. It's  serving as a towel rack for the moment- yay home renovations!

Fortunately, it didn’t fall over and dent my hardwood floors, and I did a really ungraceful gyrate thing that kept me from ending up on the hardwood floors.

I felt pretty dumb.

Because really, who trips over a giant ladder that’s been sitting there for four months?

Someone walking around in pitch dark, that’s who.