Holy Spirit Reading

Everyone reads the Bible differently from everyone else. Some read it critically; others seeking direction or guidance; still others for entertaining stories. Some read to disprove the Bible or at least parts of it, and others read it for the beauty of its metaphors and language.

There is another kind of reading that carries us far beyond the others. It’s “Holy Spirit” reading. It’s reading the Bible daily for no purpose at all except to become familiar and even close to God, It’s reading even the tedious passages with a mind to receive the Spirit behind them.

I once told the students I was teaching to imagine having lunch in the cafeteria with a friend five days a week, but never seeing or talking with that friend any other time. Imagine how God must feel when we “check in” with Him occasionally with our prayers, but never make any other effort to connect with Him.

One day while reading the Bible for pleasure, I came across this passage: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘ See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.’”( Exodus 7:1) It occurred to me that God was giving Pharaoh ( and Moses, and all readers) a glimpse of Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for Aaron would deliver the sacrifices, but where was the Holy Spirit? I couldn’t help remembering that Miriam, their sister, had led the singing after the crossing of the Red Sea, and had displayed discretion and help at the birth of Moses when the Egyptian princess found him.

The prophet Micah says of these three, “I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.” (Micah 6:4) While Moses became God-like to Pharaoh, God gave a glimpse of His triune Self in the three siblings He sent to Israel.

It would be many generations before Jesus would tell His followers to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” (Matt. 28:19), but in these early people we see a vision that will give us an even greater understanding of our God, and a pathway to closeness to Him.

When we do “Holy Spirit” reading, the Person of the Holy Spirit knows and is present. If every hair on our heads is counted, then every moment spent in His book is counted, too. It is a win-win activity. It produces patience, order, and contact with our Creator. God shows Himself in many ways, most fully, perhaps, in the Bible.

Love in Him, Prue