Reading Properly

If you saw that title and thought we'd talk here about determining your opponent's hand.... well, we'll get to that. In a roundabout way.

But we're primarily referring here to a recent post where we talked with a player who had been thinking a lot about Jesus recently. We advised him to read the Bible, and act on what it says.

But we noted there's one extra bit of advice we didn't mention in that conversation. It's an important "bit," in fact. You see, simply reading the Bible can be puzzling at times....

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?"... Acts 8:30-31

That's true in poker as much as it is the Bible.  If no one explains how to read an opponent's gestures or actions, you can only guess about whether or not he's bluffing. And if you don't read parts of the Bible carefully, you can draw very wrong conclusions on your own.

The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" Then Philip began with that very same passage of Scripture, and told him the good news about Jesus. - Acts 8:34-35

It took the appearance, death and resurrection of Jesus to make a lot of Old Testament prophecies clear - even though some still admittedly puzzle Bible readers today. So when you're reading the Bible, there's nothing wrong to get a "second opinion" about what you're reading.

It's good if that opinion comes from a person who knows the Bible well. But if that's not available....

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. - Ephesians 1:17 

God offers His Holy Spirit to help you better know Him - and by extension, to better know His Word. It's available if you follow the instructions of an early apostle:

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." - Acts 2:38

May God provide you with wisdom in "reading" Him - as in the Bible, or His nature. We pray this little blog can help with that.