Getting the Most Out of This Book
Getting the Most Out of This Book
With the Word is designed to be a supplement to your Bible and not a substitute for it. Its main purpose is to assist you in discovering and applying some of the basic spiritual lessons found in Scripture. Where needed, explanations of difficult texts are given, but this is not an “explanatory commentary” as such.
The Bible is God’s truth (John 17:17), and that truth is given on several “levels.” The foundation is historical truth, the record of facts and words that involve real people and real events. From these facts we learn doctrinal truth concerning God, man, sin, salvation, and a host of other subjects. Of course, the end result must be practical truth, for we get God’s blessing by doing His Word and not simply by learning it (
The Bible was written for the heart as well as for the mind and the will, which is where devotional truth comes in. We use the Bible devotionally when we allow it to speak to us personally as we are taught by the Spirit of God (John 14:26;
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the famous British preacher, said, “No Scripture is of private interpretation: no text has spent itself upon the person who first received it. God’s comforts are like wells, which no one man or set of men can drain dry, however mightily may be their thirst.”
When we read the Bible devotionally, we focus on the spiritual essentials, not the historical or geographical accidentals. God has often encouraged me from the first chapter of Joshua, but this does not mean I can walk into the Jordan River and expect it to open up before me. However, I have seen Him “open up” difficult situations in ministry as I have trusted Him.
The Word of God is given to warn us (1 Cor. 10:1–12) and to offer hope to us (
Christian biography is filled with examples of God’s “speaking” to His servants from the Word and giving them just the truth they needed for making hard decisions or facing difficult challenges. My wife and I have experienced this in our ministry. God has revealed His mind to us at just the right time through a portion of Scripture that was a part of our regular daily reading. People who “just open the Bible anywhere” and ask for help are turning God’s Word into a magic book and are tempting God, not trusting Him.
A word of caution here: we must be very careful of saying, “God told me to do this.” God does not address us today as He did Moses and Joshua and Paul. It is far better to say, “This is what the Spirit revealed to me from the Word, and I’m praying about what God wants me to do.” After all, Satan also knows how to use the Bible (Matt. 4:5–7). “It is written” must be balanced by “Again it is written.”
If you want to get the most out of this book, I suggest that you do the following:
1. Have a program for reading the Bible, a definite time and place and a schedule to follow. Random Bible reading is better than no reading at all, but it is rarely edifying.
2. Read the passage carefully, asking the Spirit to instruct you. Meditate on it, and seek the truths God has for you. You may want to write down in a devotional journal what you discover in the Word.
3. Read the comments in With the Word, think about them, and assimilate whatever truths God impresses on your heart. Trace the cross-references; compare Scripture with Scripture, and see how one passage sheds light on another.
4. Pray the truth into your inner being, and ask the Spirit to help you put it into practice. True Bible knowledge, properly assimilated, will lead to a “burning heart” that wants to obey (Luke 24:32) and not to a “big head” that wants to show off (
To benefit from this book, you do not have to agree with everything I have written. My comments on the Word are not the meal; they are the menu that describes the meal. They are not the road but signal lights that help point the way. If this book ever takes the place of your Bible, or of your own meditation on the Bible, you will cease to grow. Bible knowledge alone is not spiritual nutrition.
I have been reading the Bible faithfully ever since I became a Christian in 1945. Many comments in this book have come from material that I wrote in notebooks I have kept for the past twenty years. When my good friend and editor, Dr. Victor Oliver, suggested that I write a devotional commentary, I had the opportunity to examine those notebooks again and “mine” from them the truths that I thought would help fellow pilgrims on the path of life. At least they have helped me, and for this, I am grateful to the Lord.
Warren W. Wiersbe