Bunkers, if they be good bunkers, and bunkers of strong character, refuse to be disregarded, and insist on asserting themselves; they do not mind being avoided, but they decline to be ignored.
John Low (writing on golf architecture)
Nothing more metaphorical could be written about scripture, even our Lord, who lives in and through scripture gifting to each who ventures those pages—life, thus as the sages tell us, the Tree of Life, eternal life.
After all, like a good bunker, scripture reveals something of this earthly life, something of the one reading, something of the One who wrote it, something of His home. At once, scripture informs and reveals and we are left with a question—what do we do about it? If God should have His way, if we should claim His way, His way become ours, avoidance cannot be the method. At some point, say all points in life, we will either confront God or He will confront us. The man who asserts his atheism confronted the Almighty and entered the prison of his belief. Poor man, indeed.
When the confrontation brings us to life, a life in Christ, approaching scripture, as is prayer, is the way we approach God, in humility. We may begin with tepid effort or cursory knowledge of some verse or story. But let that effort and knowledge marinate and you will find yourself desiring more. Scripture satisfies the thirsty soul emerging from the desert.
This is like comparing the man who goes to the beach and uses a skim board to enjoy the shallows. He experiences what the shallows offer, getting only his feet wet. Then comes the other man, who without hesitation dives head first into the waves, getting his entire body soaked. He swims and dives to the depths to immerse himself.
There are those who skim the pages of scripture, desiring to know what it says, stopping at what is plain in the words, what is printed in black on the page. But we are all called to become the man who dives in wishing to know all it offers, the words in black and the white space between the words, God’s message and meaning. Yes, it is good to know what scripture says, better to know what it means. In scripture, we find what is true, but more, truth.
Seek and ye shall find. Truth is found in so many ways, and if we are paying attention, truth may find us. To lift one verse from the page is to make a pauper of the ones left alone. Reading scripture is an endeavor regarding the whole and not the part. One day it will reveal something of itself, and on another, something else.
Of the faithful, go ahead and bring life, your life, to the reading. Then the life it reveals to you, take into the world. She needs it, the first and the least among us, and all between.
“He who has ears to hear, let them hear (Matthew 11:15, NKJV)!