How To Read Scripture, Part 9

A number of years ago, my family and I experienced an example of personal revelation. We were renting a house from a deceitful young man who asked us to leave and refused to return the security deposit. In my devotional time that given day, I came across this passage, “And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again” (Luke 6:29-30). The Scripture penetrated deeply into my soul and it was unmistakably clear that I was not to fight for my security deposit. We were left with no money to move into our next home. Within a week’s time, I had $3,000 in the bank, a second car, a nicer home (which we eventually purchased) and a washer and dryer. I saw the hand of God at work in a way that I had never experienced. If these events had unfolded over a year’s time, I would never have made the connection of the Lord speaking to me and His blessings that followed immediately.

Would I ever tell someone else in the same situation to do what I did? No! Would they have every right to use our legal system to stay in the house where they had a two-year lease? Certainly. But sometimes the Lord speaks to us in such a way that it is unmistakably clear. Listen to the words of our Lord’s disciples on the road to Emmaus: “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?” (Luke 24:32). This sense of “burning” may be a parallel expression to Hebrews 4:12, where it tells us that the Word “pierces” into the core of our moral and spiritual life.

I do not encourage believers to seek strange meanings beyond the clear, intended meaning of the Word. However, I also do not want to rule out the voice of God that often speaks at a personal level while we read Scripture. That's the way I see things.