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One of the cardinal rules of Bible interpretation is to ALWAYS take Scripture in the context in which it was written.  To do otherwise will certainly lead to misinterpretation or even worse, the outright distortion of its meaning.  So, understanding Scripture in the context in which it was written is critical in understanding what it is meant to communicate.

 

I heard the humorous story once about the new young pastor who was systematically visiting the members of his congregation.  One day, he decided to visit one of the widows of his church family who lived on a corner lot.  When he got there, he went up the walkway through the garden to the side entrance of the home and rang the bell. No one came to the door, but he could hear movement inside, so he rang again and also knocked on the door.  Eventually, after a third try, he decided that no one was going to come to the door, so he took out his business card, wrote "Revelation 3:20" on it, and stuck it in the crack of the door.  That verse says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock..."

 

The next Sunday, he was surprised to find his card in the offering plate.  On it was written, "Genesis 3:10" which produced quite a chuckle when he looked the verse up.  It says, "...I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

 

A similar story is the one about the church who placed a large conspicuous sign on the nursery door that said, "I Corinthians 15:51".  That verse says, "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."

 

Of course, taking Scripture out of context this way is done humorously, without intending to mislead anyone.  But unfortunately, sometimes the motive for taking Scripture out of context isto mislead  people.  So, whether we are doing our own Bible study, or whether we're listening to someone else, we absolutely MUST be careful to understand Scripture in the context in which it is written.

 

Many books have been written on hermeneutics (the study of methods of Biblical interpretation) and countless articles penned on the importance of contextual interpretation.  So, it is not my intent to delve into all the technical arguments related to this important field of study.  However, I've come to realize that contrary to the generalized statement that "All Scripture must be taken in context" there are certain times when this is not true.

 

In my own Christian walk, I've come to realize that sometimes God speaks to me from His Word with a phrase or verse that has nothing to do with the context of that Scripture, but has a direct reference to something that is going on in my life at that moment.  As I heard one pastor  proclaim from the pulpit, "If you want to know the will of God, you've got to get into the Word of God!  God speaks to us from His Word!"

 

Let me give you an example of how this happened once in my life.  Many years ago when I was in my first pastorate, I would go out on church visitation on Thursday nights.  But one Thursday night, I was feeling really depressed over some things that were going on in the church.  And on top of that, I was suffering terribly with a sore throat and running a low grade fever.  I was feeling miserable both physically and spiritually that evening.  So, I decided to call the two men who were going visiting with me that night and tell them that I just wasn't up to it.  They were very understanding and even concerned about my health, so they asked if they could just come by my house and pray for me.  I said, "Of course.  Please come." 

 

While I was waiting on the two visitors (and as I sat wallowing in my pity), I decided to read my Bible for a few minutes.  I had no specific passage that I wanted to read, so I just opened my Bible and began reading.  Well, it just so happened (???) that my Bible fell open to John 11:4 and I read, "... This is not a sickness unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. 

 

 

 

 

Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.

 

 

Now, the contextual meaning of this verse has to do with the way Jesus was planning to raise Lazarus from the dead when he reached Bethany, a miraculous event that would demonstrate His divine powers.  And, I also know that the skeptic would say that any meaning I might have derived from that verse at that moment in reference to my own situation would be purely coincidental.  But you won't ever make me believe that!  To me, God was saying, "Al, don't worry.  You'll get better.  And I'm going to use this sickness to bring glory unto myself."  As it turned out, the two men came to my house and we prayed together... not only about my illness, but for our church.  And it was a very special time for all of us.  When they left, I felt much better physically and much encouraged in my spirit.  It was just what I needed at that time!

 

 Letting the Scriptures speak to me personally this way has been a great blessing many times in my life and I was reminded of that once again just recently.

 

A few months ago, I was reading in Isaiah and the Lord spoke to my heart very clearly that He wanted me to spend some time in meditation and prayer with Him in Israel.  Well, we were planning a tour to Israel soon, but the Lord seem to say to me that He wanted me there alone (without a tour group) to Chorazin, an ancient town of Israel.

 

 

 

                     Ancient synagogue in Chorazin

 

 You may remember that Chorazin was one of three towns that Jesus cursed because of their unbelief, but He also said that He did many miracles there (Matt. 11:21).  So, without a doubt, we know that Jesus taught and performed miracles at Chorazin.  Today, it is just an archaeological site and not really a very popular tourist site.  We always take our tour groups there, but we're probably only about one out of ten tour groups that visit the site.

 

But Chorazin?  Why Chorazin, of all places?  I thought, "Lord, if you want to tell me something, why can't you just speak to me here?  Why do I have to go all the way to Israel?"  I just didn't understand.  Well, Sandy and I were able to spend some time alone in Israel after our tour group left and, of course, we spent some of that time in prayer and meditation in Chorazin.  And, it was only after I was there that I understood why God wanted me to go there...

 

The day we went to Chorazin, it was cool and cloudy and there were no other tourists there.  The lady at the ticket booth was very nice and I shared briefly with her about why we were there.  She allowed us to go in without even paying which I took as another sign that God was in this.  I asked her name and she told me it is Naomi.  She also told me about a primitive bench at the very end of the park where I could be alone.  It was a beautiful spot where I could overlook the Chorazin Valley going right down to the Sea of Galilee.

 

 

 

 

        Chorazin Valley going down to the Sea of Galilee

 

 As I sat there praying, I asked, "Lord, I've come 6000 miles to this spot and I'm not even sure why.  What are you trying to tell me?"  After a while, I decided to open my Bible and read.  But what should I read?  And then, I remembered the ticket booth lady's name... Naomi.  So, I decided to read the book of Ruth that tells the story of Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I got to the second chapter where Ruth was gleaning in the fields of Boaz (who is a picture type of Jesus, the Kinsman-Redeemer), it happened.  The Scriptures began to speak to me very clearly.  I am not at liberty to share all that I felt God was telling me there, but I will tell you one thing...

 

Ruth 2:10b says, "Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing that I am a stranger [in this land]?"  (You will remember that Ruth was from Moab and had followed her mother-in-law Naomi back to the land of Israel.)  This is exactly how I felt at the time... "God, who am I that you would even notice me? For I am surely a stranger here in the land of Israel?"

 

From there, God spoke some more things to me (which I am not even sure yet what it all means).  But this one thing became very apparent... I understood why the Lord wanted me to go to Chorazin in Israel.  Because it was in Chorazin that I would meet Naomi and her name would lead me to read in the book of Ruth.  And it was only in Israel that God could say to me in the book of Ruth, "You are a stranger in this land."  This would not have had the impact, if the Lord had simply spoke to me in my own house in the United States.

 

Anyway, I had a wonderful time with my Lord in Chorazin, Israel... a time that I will never forget.  He really spoke to heart there and I guess there are some more things that He is going to reveal to me as I go along.  But the point is this:  Those verses in the book of Ruth tell the story of what happened to Ruth a very long time ago.  But at the same time, they spoke directly to me about some things in my life.

 

 Now, hearing God in this way is a very personal and subjective thing!  That is, only the reader can know whether God is speaking to him from a particular passage of Scripture or not.  Since the message is from God and we hear Him "in our heart",  it is certainly possible that we can misunderstand what we think God is saying.  So, we must be very careful with this!  It must be soaked in prayer!

 

It's like the story I heard of the politician who was in last place in the election polls, but he refused to drop out of the race because he thought God was giving him a confirming word when he read "But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." (Matt. 19:30).  He ended up losing the election.  So, obviously, God was not telling him that he going to move from last place to first place in the election.

 

Could God have really spoken to this man's heart with this scripture that he was going to win the election?  Of course He could!  But the only person who could really know that this was God's intent was that politician.  That's why I said that hearing from God in this manner is very personal and subjective.

 

But don't let the skeptics and "intellectuals" rob you of this great blessing when you know positively in your heart that God is speaking directly to you from His Word.  If you know in your heart that it's from God, believe it and act on it!  Because our God speaks to us from His Word!