How opening your Bible is easier than opening a feed sack.

I need a stupid light in the barn.

It was after dark when I went out to feed the horses. I opened up the door and reached into the sack for the scoop. I found the scoop, but there was no feed in the sack. This is the cowboy equivalent of putting an empty milk jug in the refrigerator.

I shook my head and tried to think happy thoughts as one of my worst fears came forth. It’s dark. I’m all alone. And I have to try to open a feed sack in the dark. I can’t even open a feed sack in the daytime.

I reached down and tried to feel for the little piece of thread that keeps the sack closed. I am desperately praying that I have chosen the correct side. With a deep breath, I tug on the string.

I am one of those cowboys that when given a choice between heads or tails, which is a 50/50 chance, I will get it wrong 90% of the time. If I choose heads, then I know it will be tails. But if I know that it will be tails and I choose tails, then surely it will land on heads.

When I tug on the string, it breaks. Once again I have chosen incorrectly. I know that no one else in this entire world has gotten mad at a feed sack, but I make a pretty regular habit of it. When this happens, instead of just starting from the other end and opening it the right way, I just keep tryin’ to open it from the wrong end or I just get mad and tear the sack open like a sack of Doritos.

When I tear the sack, it doesn’t just tear across the top. The tearing action somehow rips open the space-time continuum and the tear dives all the way down the side of the sack. This causes all the feed to spill onto the floor and I don’t help matters by getting mad and slinging the rest of the feed all over the place as I take my anger out on the Purina sack.

With all that being said, I need a light in my feed room. I never think about it until it’s dark. When it’s dark, I can’t see the instructions that say, “Tear from this end.” That’s not to say that even in the light I look at those instructions. I never think about looking at the instructions until it’s too late.

A lot of people don’t read their Bibles because they claim they don’t know which end to start with. They tried reading it like a book, but they lost interest pretty quick. They have tried many different times to read and just found it too difficult. They didn’t understand what was being said. They didn’t understand who the people were or what was going on. It just seemed to get them frustrated because what they expected wasn’t what they were actually getting.

There are many types of Bible study methods out there like this on here – Five Simple Tools for Bible Study Beginners. They are all great and I urge people to use whatever method they feel comfortable with. But all in all, before you can begin to study the Bible, you have to make up your mind to read the Bible.

The Bible has everything that you will ever need to know. Many times I have read the Bible and not had any great flashing insights of wisdom. But later, when a certain situation comes up, it will remind me of something that I read.

If you expect to be magically given supernatural wisdom every time you read your Bible, then you are probably going about it the wrong way. Just trust in God to lead you. He knows what you need more than you do. Be open to that.

Unlike a feed sack, you can open the Bible from either end and not get it wrong. If you too have been strugglin’ with feed sacks in the dark, it’s time you had a little Light and Instruction in your life. If you are new to reading the Bible, go get you an easy to understand copy like the New International Version or the New Living Translation. God doesn’t care which one you have, He just wants you to read.