When Reading the Bible Feels Boring

Austin Huang: David, we all know that reading the Bible is important and valuable to the Christian life, but if we’re honest, at least for me, sometimes it can feel boring or overwhelming or just hard to understand. And so the desire is there, but the joy and the consistency maybe aren’t. So how do we grow in this spiritual discipline of reading the Word?

David Platt: Oh, man. Well, there’s so much there. I think one thing to realize, and I think the way you put it, we all know this is valuable. I don’t know if we… Well, I’m not presuming I realize the total value, but I just think Psalm 119:162 said, “I rejoice at your Word like one who finds great spoil.” I love that image. This is spoil. This is treasure just waiting for us. And I think the challenge, and this is inherent in your question, is that people have not experienced the treasure of this Word, the spoil that’s found here. I think in part because we kind of view it as, “Okay, I think that’s something I’m supposed to do, need to do, should do, check off a box to do.” But that’s why in this How To Read The Bible book, I couch the whole thing just with an illustration of love letters between my wife and me, which could make people sick as they read it.
But the whole point is this is a picture of God’s love for us. He loves us so much, He speaks to us. I just think about, bro, my time this morning, I had a meeting with God this morning. The God who spoke and the universe came into being, I was spending time with Him, and He was talking to me. He was directly speaking to me through His Spirit in this Word. And so all that to say, if we read the Bible rightly, because there’s all kinds of wrong ways to read it and ways that actually I would say are harmful for us or destructive to us, not just I would say that, Jesus said that, James said that, there’s ways to read the Bible that are actually very unhelpful and unhealthy, but if we read it rightly, then we’ll see this is treasure that leads us to a love relationship with God. That’s what I’m zealous to help people experience.

Austin: What are some of the ways that are unhealthy that someone can read the Bible?

David: Well, oftentimes we can read the Bible, if we’re reading it just to check off a box, just to get through it, we’re going to miss out. If we’re not careful, we can read it and kind of twist it to say things we want it to say. Instead of adjusting our lives to the Bible, we can address the Bible to our lives. And then I think specifically about Jesus when He said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand, rain came, wind blew, beating against the house, and it fell with a great crash.” Like, “Whoa, everybody who hears the words that I speak and doesn’t do them,” so if we don’t put them into practice, reading God’s Word will actually lead to our destruction if we’re not putting them into practice.
James says the same thing, “Don’t merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” If we just listen to the Word, we don’t soak it in, understand what’s being said, and then do it, then it’ll actually lead to our deception. So deception and destruction will come if we just read the Bible. Just think about that for a minute, just reading the Bible may actually lead to your destruction and deception. No, there’s a way that we need to read and then apply the Bible, understand what God is saying in it, and then put it into practice in our lives. That’s where life, change, and transformation really happen.

Austin: Yeah. Well, let’s say I want to do that. I want to apply it. I want to do it. What if I don’t understand what it’s saying? How do I approach that? Do I just move on to something else and come back to that when I’m two years down the line as a Christian?

David: Yeah, no, no, you don’t do that. Well, I mean, we will always be learning more and more and more as we dive into this Book, but the way I would describe it years ago, somebody told me, “God does not reveal the intimate things of His heart to those who casually come and go.” This is going to take some work. This is not… One of the illustrations I use in the How to Read the Bible book is, “This is not a fast food restaurant, this is fine dining.” It takes some time. And it doesn’t need to be… This is better than a McDonald’s processed patty. This is a good steak, or if you’re vegetarian, whatever you would eat instead of steak. It’s just to be enjoyed, to savor.
I used the illustration of when Heather and I first started dating, which was before texting or anything, and she was the first girl I ever dated, which sounds noble until you realize I was just totally socially awkward. And God graciously provided somebody who’s attracted to my social awkwardness. But she wrote me a letter. I remember when I started getting these letters from her, I’d open this letter and it’d be like, “Dear David,” and I’d be like, “Dear, whoa, that’s a good start.” And then she’d be like, “I’m praying for you.” And I’m like, “What does she mean by that? Is she praying for me like she prays for anybody, or is she praying for me like she prays for her future husband?” Or she puts a smiley face. And I’m like, “Why a smiley face right there?”
So to do that… So you might say, “Well, you were pretty obsessed.” And that’s kind of the point. Yes, I was totally obsessed. I was in love. This is God’s Word. So to read, I’m going to just open up to Psalm 77, so, “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and He will hear me.” This is totally random, but just, okay, soak that in. Why does he say aloud to God twice? Okay, he’s crying out, he’s desperate, “God, I’m desperate, and He will hear me. He hears me when I’m desperate.” That’s just one verse. And I’m not saying every verse is like that, but to really soak in. Now you ask, “Well, what if you don’t understand it?”
Because yeah, there are other parts, I could open Leviticus and be like, “What did even this mean?” But that’s where I would say a good study Bible can be really helpful for understanding. So just a simple tool, and you can do this online too, and you can get electronic versions or a physical copy, but the one we encourage people to get in our church family is the ESV Study Bible. So it just has notes that help you get the context, because in order to really understand what’s happening, you need to understand who were the first people to read this? Who was the person writing this? How is it… So, to understand the context of this particular book, Jeremiah, which was written centuries ago, what was going on during that time that would help me understand some of the context. So a good study bible can be really helpful.

Austin: Yeah, I think the context is really key for a lot of people. There’s this trend that’s been happening on Christian TikTok where people just take verses out of context, and they’re like, “Oh, send this to the person you love.” And it’s just like, “I thank God every time I remember you.” I’m like, “Okay, yeah, that’s great,” but also, it was Paul writing to specific people. And another one’s like Philippians, whatever you take from these places in the Bible, you have to read into the context.

David: Yes, yes, totally. I don’t know if you’re referring to Philippians 4:13, but “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Okay, I mean, that doesn’t make you Superman. You can’t all of a sudden do everything because you have just… In fact, that’s the beauty, you used the word context to really look at what’s around a passage. Because what happens, what Paul says right before Verse 13 is he talks about, “I’ve learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.” So he’s not actually saying, “I can accomplish anything.” He’s saying, “When I have a lot, when I have little, when things are going awesome, when things are not going awesome, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” All things is in every circumstance I have a strength that will enable me to press through, will enable me not to do this or win a game, whatever it might be that we oftentimes would abuse that verse for, but actually the whole version is about being content even when you lose the game. That’s the whole point. In all things, I have the strength and Jesus can bring me through.

Austin: That’s good. Was there ever a season of your life or ministry where you may have neglected quiet time or time with the Lord, and treated this Book as not just a bunch of words on a page, but actually the divinely inspired Word of God? Was there ever a time in your life when that just kind of fell into the pits?

David: Totally. I am thinking about certainly when I was in high school, college, there were times when I was just reading through the Word, journaling based on the Word, and then there were times when I was ignoring the Word. But then what’s really scary is there was one particular season in my life as a pastor where I would study the Bible to preach a sermon on Sunday, but I wouldn’t just read it just to know God, which is frightening to me that I could lead in a church and not only leading the church, things were going well, things were growing, and I was getting invited to preach in all these different places, but I was doing it totally apart from intimacy with God and just time alone with Him just to know Him. So yes, yes, I’ve experienced those times.
But I remember that season in particular, God just waking me up, actually using my wife Heather, in a very instrumental way to help me see, I was on a really dangerous road. And so ever since then, I don’t want this to sound trite or I’m just kind of saying this or over dramatic or anything, but I cannot live without His Word every morning. I cannot live. The way I think, the way I desire, the way I live, I need to be transformed every day by this Word. And I have found Psalm 1 to be true, that happiness, blessing, and prosperity, true prosperity comes in meditation of this Word day and night. This is a way of God’s design…
And oh, that’s what I would just encourage anybody listening to or watching this, this is for your good. Psalm 1, “Happy is the one whose delight is in the Law of the Lord, who meditates on a day and night, he’ll be like a tree planted by streams of water, yields its fruit in season, its leaf won’t wither and in all that he does, he’ll prosper.” Who doesn’t want that? Everybody listening to this wants prosperity, true prosperity, not worldly prosperity. Everybody wants happiness. Nobody doesn’t want that, everybody wants happiness. And this Book, it is guaranteed when we read it rightly, meditate on it, then it will… And meditate on it basically means just to linger over it, just not rush through it, but to really soak it in, it will lead to that guaranteed.

Austin: Yeah. I’m just reminded right now of Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” It’s alive.

David: Yes.

Austin: It’s not just words, it’s Jesus. He is the Word made flesh who dwells among us, and it’s the one thing that’s unshakable that will last forever. And that’s just so beautiful.

David: Bro, there’s so much there. Just to kind of put an exclamation point on two of those things, one that it’ll last forever. Think about, what? I mean, how many hours do we spend scrolling through our phone, filling our minds with stuff that will not last forever, it won’t last forever, this will last forever. This is so much more valuable.
And then the other thought that comes to my mind, living and active. I just think about my time with the Lord this morning. Bro, I just have a Bible reading plan, so right now I’m in Isaiah and Psalm, and man, the way… So these are verses I’ve read before, but the Holy Spirit takes those verses and this moment as I’m praying, just spending time again, communing with God, and the Holy Spirit takes these words on a page and brings them to life in my heart, and He’s speaking to me. And I mean, there were points where I’m not saying it’s like revival every morning, but this morning I was in tears at one point. I was just overwhelmed by God’s grace, by God’s love, by His goodness toward me. All that, living and active, is, as you’ve read in Hebrews 4:12, that’s what came to my mind, living active communion with God that is possible for us through this Word that’s unlike anything else in the world.

Austin: It’s so weighty. It’s not something to approach lightly.

David: Yeah, it’s good.

Austin: And I just think of… I’m just like, it’s all coming to my mind, but I’m not really sure where it’s from. But it’s approaching the throne room of God with confidence by drawing near by the blood of the Lamb. We don’t have to come to God in reading the Word with, “Oh, maybe we’ll see what happens today.” But we can approach His throne room with confidence, knowing that He wants to speak to us. He’s not just going to leave us dry. He wants to lavish us with all of His wisdom.

David: It’s so good, man. Yes, I love that. And man, I’ll just make a confession here, there was a… A few days ago, I was really tired in the morning and just the thought came to my mind, “I know I’m just going to kind go light on my time with the lord, or just a little less time. And I was like, “No, no,” I kind of talked myself into spending more concentrated time than I normally do in the morning. And bro, I don’t remember how long it was later, over an hour later, I was like, “Why did I want to skimp out on this?” And the Lord just met me in a particularly powerful way that morning.
And I just had to repent. I’ve written a book on this. I know this from years and years and years, and yet man, I’m prone to wander, my flesh. I just was like, “What else did I have that was important that day? Even just rest? No.” Man, so I had to repent of just like, “God.” At the end of that time, I was like, “Forgive me. You are such a good Father. You just sat just good waiting for me. And thank You for Your patience with me, even being reluctant about experiencing the good You had for me.”

Austin: That’s so good. And so we have your book, How to Read the Bible. Are there practical habits or rhythms that maybe you touch on in this book that have personally helped you grow with God, spend more time with Him?

David: Yeah, I mean that’s really, the book’s kind of an overflow of my attempt to try to help others. The subtitle is A Guide to Experiencing Intimacy with God. And so I walked through an acrostic in there that’s just meditate and memorize and apply and pray and share, and give some practical handles I hope on those things.
One thing that I talk about in there that comes to my mind when you’re like, “Okay, just talk practical disciplines or things you do.” For me, journaling is really valuable. And I talked about this a little bit in the book. I can’t point to a verse that is like, “Journal.” So I wouldn’t say everybody needs a journal, but… And by journaling, I basically, and it could look different in different people’s lives, but in my life it’s just like, “Yeah, my time with the Lord this morning just opens up,” and I usually do this on iPad or a computer, obviously you can write, but it helps me from being too distracted when my mind starts to wander. This kind of helps me stay focused, and it’s just good to be intentional.
So I’m just writing out from the very beginning, prayers to God based on the day before, reflecting on what God’s taught me the day before. But then, when I dive into the Word, I’m reading Psalm 113 this morning. It starts just like, “Praise the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. From the rising of the sun to the setting of the same, let the name of the Lord be praised.” So I’m copying and pasting that and then just writing out a prayer of praise after that. It’s just soaking in the Word, praying according to the Word. And I think journaling helps me be intentional about that as opposed to just trying to… Yeah, just reading that and praying, yes, I think that’s fine, not just fine, that’s great, it’s glorious, but for me it’s more helpful to be… Journaling’s just been… I can actually pretty much track the times where I’ve experienced deepest intimacy with God over the course of my life; they have corresponded with times I’ve been intentional about journaling and praying and spent time in the Word and writing a lot of that out.

Austin: What kind of posture do you think is necessary when you’re approaching reading the Bible? I mean, something that I feel like the Lord has given me revelation on is that intimacy with Him equals proximity; we can be really close to this, plus posture. So it’s like, I need to come with an attitude of, maybe I need to learn, or are you going to teach me something today? What is the posture that we should approach the Bible with?

David: Yeah. I just think Psalm 119, “Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things in your law.” So the posture is clearly humility. I just think Isaiah 66, “This is the one in whom I delight, who trembles at my Word,” the picture of coming to God’s Word with a humility, with a trembling, and just saying, “God, I know there’s treasure here. Open my eyes that I’m going to behold wonderful things in Your Law.” And it’s good even just to pray that. For me, it’s helpful. When I open the Word, I’m not saying I do this every time, but pretty often, I like to say, “Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things in Your Law,” because it’s a good reminder.
This is a spiritual, supernatural exercise. This is not just opening up a novel or whatever else, any other book I would read in the world, I can’t say that prayer in this way. This is a supernaturally God-breathed Book, and Your Spirit is with me right now to help me see. This is Ephesians 1, “That the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.” If you don’t do this work and help me see, I won’t see. Even when I was reading the other day in Isaiah 6, “Be ever seeing, but not understanding,” it’s possible, like you said, proximity but not actually intimacy.
So the posture is humility, a prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit. And I would add just a posture, I don’t know how to put this in posture language, but a commitment to work. Treasure, you don’t usually just stumble upon it; it’s not sitting out on the ground. And I’m not saying that it’s extremely hard to find the treasure in this Book, but you’ve got to do some digging. You’ve got to do the work of context, understanding, that’s one of the things I walked through in the book, just asking some different questions in the text that’ll help you get to the treasure that’s under there, but it takes work. You can’t just be content with a little word from God for the day or just kind of a passing thought for the day. That’s not what… You won’t get treasure that way.

Austin: Yeah, no, that’s very helpful. For the person who is maybe feeling like they’re failing in this regard of the spiritual discipline of reading the Bible, and they want to be more consistent., What is your encouragement? What’s your next step for them to take?

David: Well, one, in any way, feeling/failing. Just guard your heart. The devil is an accuser. That’s his name. He likes to throw our weaknesses in our face. So, just, there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The Father loves you. The Father desires good for you. So God loves you. Don’t see Him as the accuser, Satan’s the accuser, and so just rest in His grace, in His love for you, and then let that lead you to the very practical thing, and this will be like… Okay, I’m not sure how that was practically helpful, but if I’m struggling to read the Bible, my encouragement would be to read the Bible anyway. Just take the time to read it.
And the couple of illustrations that come to my mind along those lines, well, one, if we even are lacking hunger for the Word, it might have something to do with all the other stuff we’re filling our minds with in this world. If we spend, what is it on average, four or five hours a day, scrolling through drivel on our phones, on screens, well, we shouldn’t be surprised when our stomachs are full, our spiritual stomachs. We’ve already filled our minds with all this other stuff. So how do you change that? The other illustration I use is when Heather and I started dating. I grew up in a home where my dad hated seafood, so we all hated seafood. And the first time I ever went to her house for dinner, they were making seafood. And I’m like, “Oh man, I can’t even stand the smell.” And so I’m like, “But I got to impress this girl.”
And so I ate it and just told them how great it tastes, and they bought it. They were like, “Oh, he loves seafood.” So the next time I came over there, they were like, “Oh, let’s do seafood for David.” And then it turned into every time I’d eat with their family, it was like seafood, and it was like, “Oh man.” The end of the story is that today I love seafood, and it’s because I had to love it to get a wife, but my taste buds changed. That’s the point of the story: my taste buds changed. So read the Bible and let it change your taste buds.
Get into it, give it time. Spend the next month reading a chapter, two chapters a day, doing the kind of things I talked about in this book, just meditating on it, thinking how it applies to your life, praying through it, and your taste buds will start to change. You will not come away from diligently diving into treasure here empty, you won’t, you won’t. This Word will not return void, it won’t. If you spend the time with the kind of posture we’re talking about, and yeah, you won’t come away empty.