Disturbed by God

(Picture of Isaiah 6)

So naturally we cherish the hope that through our Bible reading we shall be comforted; we have no wish to be disturbed. Hence we tend to come to it with our minds made up, anxious to hear only the reassuring echoes of our own prejudice... We have to be willing for God himself to lay down the ground rules, and to decide what he wants to say to us, however uncongenial we may find it. (Between Two Worlds by John R.W. Stott)

Have you been disturbed by God's word lately? I felt the punch of this quotation in my own devotional life. Often I have found myself looking for comfort from the scriptures that will support my beliefs. It is a good excuse to read the Bible any way I want, on my terms. I search and search until I find something that comforts me where I am at and then when I have it I say, "Phew! I knew it was in there. Thanks you God for showing me that I was right about this." Ah, Lord God! How many times have I skipped over the passages that upset my equilibrium just to get to the familiar?

This is a plea for us preachers and all believers to stop at the passages that confuse us. Dig there until God reveals something to you. Don't rush to get to the familiar. I have driven I-95 so many times, it almost feels that I am on cruise control just as much as the car is. I fear that we read, preach, and teach God's word the same way. "There goes that billboard I love", "For God so loved the world", "Finally, 'Welcome to North Carolina", "Finally, out of Leviticus", and on and on. How many times do you run to the passages of comfort that you have known for a long time? My guess is that the more you do this, the more you are removed from the truth expressed in them. Dare to be disturbed by the Word. Dare to have your theology rocked. Dare to read Leviticus or to study Romans or to uncover Habbakuk.

When men and women of scripture, like Isaiah, were confronted with truths about God, they were not immediately comforted. They were frightened, discouraged, disturbed. They pronounced their uncleanness or were struck with the horror of their unworthiness. Yet we come to the Word and hope to get a quick pick me up. But the Word reveals God to us. And at the same time it reveals ourselves. And when these two are set against one another, we must feel a sense of being disturbed. Then, like the comforter that He is, the Holy Spirit swoops in and reminds us of Jesus. It is in Jesus that we find our comfort.

So try to get disturbed by the Word today. Go somewhere you have not gone before, or at least in a while. Don't stay in your scriptural comfort zone. Let God lay the ground rules.