Praying Scripture

I want to give you an example of praying Scripture.

But first, let’s establish a ground rule of reading the Bible: It’s a principle of Bible study that you FIRST interpret the Bible by itself–in other words, accepting that the Bible is true and understanding what God is telling us about Himself, and about us.

This is Bible study and the study of “systematic theology,” which is where we begin to understand the acts of God: Creation, the calling of the chosen people, the coming of Christ, the Resurrection and Ascension, the Church, and the Second Coming.

Then, there is a secondary layer of reading, and that is reading the Bible and asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you personally. He will!

One of the ways to do this is to recast a passage as a prayer for yourself. Because you know your Bible you know that the original passage was meant for, say, Israel. But because the Word is living and active, God may also mean the passage to apply to you.

This morning, I read from Is. 58. The passage is a quote from the Lord given to Isaiah to Judah; the southern Kingdom of Israel that held Jerusalem and the Temple. The passage is a warning to return to true worship and care for others:
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.” (Is. 58:9-11)

In fact, Judah did NOT listen, and Babylon invaded and exiled them for 70 years!

This is the meaning of the passage. But God was also speaking to me through that passage. He is telling me to do the hard parts of ministry: reaching out without feeling like I’m just trying to sell stuff. Here’s my version:

“If you do away with the yoke of distraction,
    with the blaming self-talk and no action;
and if you spend yourself in behalf of the ones hungry for God
    and satisfy the needs of the ones lonely for God’s presence,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.”

Try it for yourself! Read the Bible until you feel a nudge that this may be important to you. Rewrite the passage or the verse for yourself, asking God to reveal the truth to you.