Reading the Bible

[kmr]

I'm tired... it has been a long day filled with agonizing work and toil. My mind is spinning, my back is aching, and perhaps even my faith has been shaken, for whatever reason. Essentially, I feel awful. Then, I pick up the Bible and open to a random page.

No matter where I read, instantly I feel fresh and new, joyous -- I feel like giving glory to God in His wonder. It is amazing!

Does everybody else have this sense too? And, more importantly, what is it? Is it just our own minds playing tricks, making us think that it is rewarding, or is it the Holy Spirit acting in our hearts, and strengthening our faith? Do Jews and Muslims have the same sensation when they read their respective holy books? What I am getting at here is whether or not the joy coming from reading scripture is just our own making, or whether it is spiritual (or even from God). What do you think?

[Canuckster1127]

I'm tired... it has been a long day filled with agonizing work and toil. My mind is spinning, my back is aching, and perhaps even my faith has been shaken, for whatever reason. Essentially, I feel awful. Then, I pick up the Bible and open to a random page.

No matter where I read, instantly I feel fresh and new, joyous -- I feel like giving glory to God in His wonder. It is amazing!

Does everybody else have this sense too? And, more importantly, what is it? Is it just our own minds playing tricks, making us think that it is rewarding, or is it the Holy Spirit acting in our hearts, and strengthening our faith? Do Jews and Muslims have the same sensation when they read their respective holy books? What I am getting at here is whether or not the joy coming from reading scripture is just our own making, or whether it is spiritual (or even from God). What do you think?

I have that experience often. I think at times it's just a result of calming oneself and taking the time to focus on God and drop the immediate temporal concerns that we get so caught up with. Kind of a, "Be still and know that I am God", type moment. Then too, I've definitely had times where I believe God has given me a word or a thought appropriate to me at that time and place even if and when the passage itself strictly speaking from a teaching perspective might not readily lend itself to the conclusion I'm taking from it. I might be cautious in suggesting that anyone else build on that for anything, but I don't think God is limited by the moving of His Holy Spirit in our lives to doing that. It shouldn't surprise us if God's Holy Spirit is within us that He can operate independently of our own thoughts and emotions to bring meaning and assurance to us. We need to be cautious I think, of focusing or emphasizing that too much to where we become emotionally driven in our Christian walk, but the opposite extreme of discounting all such experience runs an equal risk of quenching or quieting the voice of the Spirit of God within us.