{"id":12220,"date":"2019-05-21T06:20:05","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T11:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=12220"},"modified":"2019-05-21T06:20:05","modified_gmt":"2019-05-21T11:20:05","slug":"book-review-before-you-open-your-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=12220","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Before You Open Your Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Before-You-Open-Your-Bible\/dp\/1912373718\/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1558381702&amp;sr=1-1-catcorr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-12221 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/a1744685519dfd275c77b4cc04b94624-185x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"185\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/a1744685519dfd275c77b4cc04b94624-185x300.jpg 185w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/a1744685519dfd275c77b4cc04b94624.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 185px) 100vw, 185px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I really have enjoyed following <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MattSmethurst\">Matt Smethurst<\/a> on Twitter over the years.\u00a0 He is one of the managing editors of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/\">The Gospel Coalition<\/a> and a very thought provoking writer.\u00a0 When I heard that he had a new book coming out about how to approach God&#8217;s Word, I knew that I&#8217;d be interested in learning more.\u00a0 My 6 year old came downstairs one morning to find me sitting down ready to read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Before-You-Open-Your-Bible-ebook\/dp\/B07PV78QBZ\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=169HPD74EVEZY&amp;keywords=matt+smethurst&amp;qid=1558437268&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=matt+sm%2Cstripbooks%2C132&amp;sr=1-1-catcorr\"><em>Before You Open The Bible<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 He told me, &#8220;Mom, you have already been reading your Bible, I don&#8217;t know if you can read that book now.&#8221;\u00a0 Throwing caution to the wind, I went ahead and cracked it open and I&#8217;m so glad that I did.<\/p>\n<p>Smethurst has done a great job of helping unpack the wonder and awe that we should have at even the availability of the Bible to our generation.\u00a0 So many of us in the &#8220;Bible belt&#8221; are guilty of owning several Bibles and merely using them to decorate our shelves.\u00a0 The days that the Lord gives us to spend on this earth should be stewarded with one goal in mind&#8230;to know Him and to make Him known.<\/p>\n<p>I highlighted several things while reading and have posted those notes below&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>Familiarity can be one of the most dangerous things in the world. p. 2<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>I am convinced that a prayerless approach to God\u2019s word is a major reason for the low-level dissatisfaction that hums beneath the surface of our lives. p. 6<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>What has captured your imagination? \u00a0What is enamoring the eyes of your heart? p. 9<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\u201cTexts will often refuse to reveal their treasures until you open them with the key of prayer.\u201d Charles Spurgeon, p. 10<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\u201cOne of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from a lack of time.\u201d John Piper p. 11<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>When was the last time the Bible astonished you? \u00a0I don\u2019t mean something in the Bible. \u00a0I mean the Bible itself. p. 15<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>We should never take for granted that the exalted Creator would befriend the work of his hands. \u00a0But that\u2019s precisely what he did. p. 18<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>The Bible you possess is evidence that God loves you and wants a relationship with you. p. 19<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\u201cWhen your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart\u2019s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.\u201d Jeremiah 15:16, p. 23<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Do I approach the Bible more like it\u2019s a snack or like it\u2019s a feast? p. 24<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Is it more accurate to say I\u2019m willing to hear from God or that I\u2019m desperate to hear from him? p. 24<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Am I merely interested in the Scriptures or am I also internalizing them? p. 24<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\u201cMy soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times\u2026I hold fast to your statutes\u2026I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands (Psalm 119:20, 31, 131). p. 25<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\u201cGreat are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.\u201d Psalm 111:2, p. 28<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>If we\u2019re so careful to study and accurately represent our heroes and loves, why are we lackadaisical in how we talk about our Creator? p. 29<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>The purpose of theology is to stoke your worship, to deepen your love, to fuel your mission, and to sustain your life. p. 32<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>The One who flung the stars into space and spoke galaxies into being is far too qualified to govern just one or two small provinces in your life. \u00a0He loves you too much to leave you in charge of an existence you didn\u2019t design. p. 39<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>The purpose of the words of Jesus and his apostles\u2014the purpose of your Bible, friend\u2014is to flood your heart with joy. \u00a0p. 50<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\u2026it is the nature of discipline to give way to delight. p. 51<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\u201cFor everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.\u201d Romans 15:4 p. 60<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Old Testament: Anticipation<\/div>\n<div>Gospels: Manifestation<\/div>\n<div>Acts: Proclamation<\/div>\n<div>Epistles: Explanation<\/div>\n<div>Revelation: Consummation<\/div>\n<div>From beginning to end, your Bible is an epic story about Jesus. p. 75<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\u2026the way we treat the words of God reveals what we really think and feel about him. \u00a0p. 79<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Your Bible is a bottomless treasure chest of beauty and wonder, strength, and joy. \u00a0May you approach it for the rest of your days as if that\u2019s true, because it is. p. 79<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I really have enjoyed following Matt Smethurst on Twitter over the years.\u00a0 He is one of the managing editors of The Gospel Coalition and a very thought provoking writer.\u00a0 When I heard that he had a new book coming out about how to approach God&#8217;s Word, I knew that I&#8217;d be interested in learning more.\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14,25,16,28,17,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study","category-book-review","category-education","category-family","category-integrity","category-leadership","category-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}