Context is Everything

I recently read a tweet that intrigued me.  “God doesn’t hear all of our prayers.”  That was it.  No scriptural basis.  No explanation.  Merely a statement.  I immediately went into research mode.  I could point you to dozens of scriptures that speak to the fact that God does in fact hear our prayers, but I have never come across support for the idea that God doesn’t hear all of our prayers.  In fact, after spending a couple of hours scouring the Bible, I still could not find scriptural basis for such a statement (though I did find a few about what prayers He ignores – more about that another time).  What I learned through my goose chase is the importance of context.  The statement above was taken from a talk given at a Christian conference.  I’m familiar with the man who spoke those words, and am confident that he did not just make up such a statement without some sort of basis.  But I was not privy to the context.  I merely got a 140-word-snapshot.  Without knowing the context, the statement means very little to me.

How often do we look at scriptures like tweets?  Merely a small snapshot.  How often to we latch onto a verse without truly understanding the context, and therefore, truly understanding it’s meaning?

Let’s take one of my favorite scriptures for example.  Psalm 37:4.  “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Many people take that verse and read it to mean that if we love God, He will give us what we want.  Not true.  When we research the verse, and understand the context, we learn that the result of “delighting ourselves in the Lord” is that our desires align with His.  It’s not about getting what WE want, it’s about getting what HE wants.  A significant and crucial difference.

I challenge you to take reading the Bible one step further.  Read it in context.  Research the history and the original language.  Use cross-references.  When I incorporate all of these aspects into my Bible study, I glean so much more.

Lord, thank you for giving us Your Word.  Thank you for giving us your Holy Spirit to help us interpret your Word.  Lord, give me the discernment and wisdom to read your Word with your eyes and pure motives.  I love you Lord.