A Bible sits on a shelf for years and years. Then, someone blows the dust off, starts to read, and finds their innards stirring. The book lays them bare.

I think hard and often on this insight the writer of Hebrews shared about the Scriptures: For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Mysteriously, after thousands of years, the words are not expired, not grown stale, not gone out of date. The opposite actually. Seething with energy, pulsing with hope, infused with insight and power, that Bible trembles on the rack.

Like yeast, its teachings permeate. Like a virus, the words infect. Like spring rains, the Holy Spirit uses the scriptures to soften the ground, sprout seeds and create flourishing lives.

Simply put, God’s revelation does things—open the book and let it do things to you.

Hebrews 4 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Syd Wachs