What's All The Hub-Bub?

I kept re-reading the Bible because other Christians would say that every time they read it something new stood out, and they developed a new understanding that somehow applied directly to something specific in their lives. I never really understood that notion. I read the Bible a lot right after I came to Jesus… I mean a lot. But I never got any further meaning. What was wrong with me – what was wrong with them? It’s all the same. How could it grow in meaning?

I knew that I loved Jesus. I hung on every word He spoke. His ministry struck such a deep chord in my heart. But everything around the ‘red letters’, well, it seemed like clutter. And the Old Testament? Could there be any reading more boring? It was worse than reading my college dissertation…and that thing would put me to sleep after one sentence….and I was the author, for crying out loud. That was honestly how I felt. I couldn’t really grasp what other Christians were talking about, and why they couldn’t get enough of the Word. Some of my girlfriends would rather read Scripture than People, or Vogue. I wanted that. I wanted so badly to see the deeper meaning, make the new discoveries, make the connections. Why couldn’t I see what others were being amazed by? What was all the hub-bub about?

Then it happened. One day I was having an especially tough day at work. First, I overslept. So, my kids missed their opportunity to take showers, they had to go to school all grungy, they had to eat breakfast in the car. The whole way to drop-off I was a complete b-i-t-c-h because I was late and taking it out on them. So now they were going to have a lousy day. I got to work and realized I had forgotten to wake my husband who was supposed to be on an important conference call, and the night before I offered to wake him up so he wouldn’t sleep through his alarm clock. So he was going to have a lousy day. I went into a meeting and my peers were at their usual level of merely tolerating my presence, and I had the draining task of defending every project I was involved in…the only director scrutinized yet again. By lunch I was beat, exhausted, down, and wondering why on earth I was trying to force this career of mine on everyone around me. Everywhere I turned, there was always a push-back.

I went into a quiet conference room to eat. I looked around for a magazine or something to take my mind off of the screaming acknowledgment that I had to eat lunch alone again. Nothing to read. Through the glass of the conference room I could see the sanctuary, the pews, and of course, all the pew Bibles. So I grabbed one. I did one of those hunt-n-peck decisions, “I’ll read whatever passage the Book opens to.” I said to myself. I was fully anticipating a quick meaningless read. But I was feeling like a ‘good Christian’ because I was, you know, reading the Bible. Little did I know that the first passage I was to read that day would be the one that would begin my long path of deeper meaning, making new discoveries, and making so many connections. The passage I was about to read would change my life forever. It was the beginning of my long path of hub-bub.
The passage I opened to was Isaiah 49. The most incredible wave of emotion came over me as I read the words of hope through Isaiah’s anger (yes, anger, deal with it). He met me right where I was at. Isaiah did. He saved me. The words in Isaiah 49 were so closely aligned with what I was going through that I felt liberated, anguished, loved, cherished, exhilarated, sad, ecstatic, and free all in one instant. For the first time God was reaching out to me through His Word, and I listened. I was open. In the moment. I got it!

Actually, words cannot describe what this passage meant to me at that specific moment in time and in that place. And I don’t want to try and convince you because, like me, if you don’t yet understand what all the hub-bub is about when you meet people who can't get enough, then what I have to say won’t have meaning either.

Your experience will come. God will choose the time and place. And it will be an experience so personal to just you, that you will be rendered speechless and breathless, too. I was regularly reading the Bible for over 8 years before this happened to me. Don’t stop reading just because you don’t feel anything yet. Because there will be a first time…and many there after. God will use his Word to get personal with you. So don’t stop…no matter how boring you think it is, He will pull you into the hub-bub.