5 Days to Get Motivated to Read the BibleНамуна

Why do you want to read God's Word? Our motivations for reading the Bible or doing anything else point to what we value most in life. What do we consider valuable? Why? When we speak of motivations, we address what we value and our drive to go after what we value.

Whether we realize it or not, God’s words are far more valuable than we can imagine—far more valuable than the biggest bank account or our most earnestly desired possessions. When we seek motivation to read His Word, we need to hear and grasp the astounding ways in which the Bible adds great value to our lives. We could celebrate many of these ways as strong motivations for reading the Word, but let’s consider four: guidance, correction, stability, and delight. To illustrate these benefits, the Bible uses the images of a lamp, sword, rock, and honey. Today we’ll look at the lamp and give attention to the others during the following days.

The Bible is a lamp that guides us.

In the Old Testament era, lamps were made of fired clay, formed by making a shallow saucer that was pinched on one side to manage the wick, which normally was made of flax. Olive oil served as fuel. Normally such lamps were used indoors, but the image in Psalm 119:105 evokes a walk at night along a path. Imagine an old shepherd walking through the night, tending to his sheep. The path is uneven, studded with rocks, and filled with holes. The path is perilous, winding along the edge of a drop-off. The light alerts him to what is ahead, showing him both where he should step and where he must not step, lest he fall into serious trouble.

This image of the lamp speaks powerfully to where we often find ourselves in this very dark world. You may ask, "Where and how can I 'walk' through this difficult situation at work? Or that relationship with a family member? Or an unsettling reality in the culture at large? In a world of social unrest and pandemics and pressures, what should I do? What should I not do?" We need guidance. We need a perspective bigger than our own to help us make the right decisions. A key motivation for reading the Word, then, is to receive guidance. We read God’s Word to get answers for life, to know how we should live and respond to the world around us.

The Bible trains us to live well, in God’s ways—both to shape the directions of our lives and to guard us against falling into things that might do us harm. As we read the Bible daily, we learn to think about life the way that God wants us to think. This shapes the decisions that we make and the impact that we have on others in the world.