"If we come to Scripture with our minds made up, expecting to hear from it an echo of our own thoughts and never the thunderclap of God’s, then indeed he will not speak to us and we shall only be confirmed in our own prejudices. We must allow the Word of God to confront us, disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior."
—John Stott
Confrontation is not a popular thing these days. When something or someone is different to us or disagrees with our beliefs, they just get cancelled. No time is invested to try and understand and evaluate the difference and see if an adjustment on our part is required. If we don't like something, we just get to oppose or ignore it.
Are we doing that with the Bible too? Are we just ignoring the parts we don't like? Cancelling the concepts that go against the prevailing opinions and culture? Only accepting the ideas that make us feel good and important? Leaving out the things that make us feel challenged and uncomfortable? Are we just looking for an echo of our own thoughts?
Or are we truly asking God to speak, to thunder His truth out over us, even when it confronts and disturbs our happy little existence? Truly believing that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that we, the servants of God, may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 2:16-17).
