Focus: Encountering God Through The Scriptures (Pt.1)

Text: Lk.24:32

"And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?"

God is a person to be encountered, not a religious subject to be argued. The encounter makes the argument unnecessary. The psalmist exclaims, "O taste and see…" Only those who have a taste of God can truly testify to the sweetness, goodness, graciousness, greatness and glory of God. God is known not by human logic or argument, but by divine revelation - God's self-disclosure.

The name of the Old Testament is known as the Tanakh, which is an acronym that stands for Torah (the law), Nevi'iym (the prophets) and Ketuviym (the writings), but the main name for the Old Testament Scriptures is Miqra. For the English speaking world, it is the Bible; for the Greeks, it is biblos; and for the Latin, it is biblia. Apart from Migra, the other names imply a book to be read. The Hebrew word Miqra comes from qara, which is a verbal root that means 'to call or to meet.' 

Joshua 8:35 says, "There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua READ not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them." The word 'read' is qara, but the interesting thing is that it fundamentally means 'to call,' with a view to meet together. The person called responds to the caller by walking to and walking with him. The Jewish festivals are known as convocations - con-vocation. Vocation is a calling. In the festivals God was calling His people to a meeting. They meet with God and make up their minds to walk and work together with Him.

The Bible is fundamentally a book through which the readers do not just get informed, but most importantly, they hear the voice of God calling them to action, to a mission, or to a battle formation. The Bible is meant to form our lives, not just to inform us. It forms their culture, attitudes, belief system, behaviors, character, choices and actions.

Until you encounter God for yourself and hear His voice calling you to partner with Him, you have not really read the Bible. God speaks to us and calls us to action through the Scriptures. When we saturate our hearts with the Scripture of truth, then are we able to know and embrace the voice of God.

The Scriptures are the meeting point between God and us. The two men on their way to Emmaus said to themselves, "Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" God says through Jeremiah, "Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" (Jer.23:29). The word of God burns in us when we encounter it with our whole being. The word of God changes us internally, externally, and eternally. The voice of Scripture is the voice of the Spirit, and as we hear His voice through the Scriptures, we are inspired, stirred, and persuaded to believe in and obey Him. The Spirit takes us into a journey with Him.

Read the Scriptures. Study them. Meditate on them. Eat and chew every bit of it. Let the words of Christ dwell in you richly. Encounter God through the Miqra of God.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter