I. When you open the Bible, never forget that it is the Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13). That He is as really speaking to you there, as He spoke with Moses on the Mount (Exod. 33:11). That it alone embodies the mind of God, and reveals his mercy, his justice, his love, his holiness (Exod. 34:5-6).
II. Read as a perishing sinner. The Bible is all addressed to us in that character. It reveals God to us as sinners: it supplies us with righteousness as sinners: it makes us sure of grace, of mercy and peace, all in Christ Jesus. Read it, then, as all addressed to sinners (Luke 18:13; 1 Tim. 1:15; Isa. 1:18).
III. Read under the conviction that the Spirit of God must teach you both to understand and to believe the Bible. Without Him it remains a sealed book to you (1 Cor. 2:11; 12:3; 2 Cor. 3:6).
IV. Consider the Word of God as the daily bread of your soul. You cannot live unto God without it (Jer. 15:16; Matt. 4:4).
V. As you read, let Scripture explain Scripture, and use the more easy portions to shed light upon the more deep and difficult (1 Cor. 2:13).
VI. Never be satisfied with merely skimming the surface of the Bible. You are to “search the Scriptures” (John 5:39). “Plow into the Bible,” was the saying of a noted saint.
VII. Never think that you know the Bible aright unless the inspired Word (2 Tim. 3:16) has led you to “the Word made flesh” (John 1:14). We miss our object unless we are guided to “the Lord our righteousness,” to “the Alpha and the Omega,” “God with us.” Seek Christ, then, in the Bible, first, last, and always.
VIII. Read evermore with prayer for faith, for light, for the Holy Ghost; read even on your knees (Psa. 119:18, 34).
IX. Read in order to do, to obey, to be made holy, Christ-like, and heavenly-minded (Matt. 5:48; John 17:17; James 1:22).
X. Lastly, read evermore for yourself, that you may be humbled, comforted, encouraged, reproved, exhorted, as the God of the Bible knows your soul to require (2 Tim. 3:16).
O God, the Father of lights, send forth Thy Holy Spirit, that He may now lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: that He may enable me to lay up Thy word in my heart, to be practised in my life: that I may behold more and more of Thy glory in the face of Jesus Christ: that as a sinner I may be pardoned for his sake–that in temptation I may be delivered–that in sorrow I may be comforted, and in darkness enlightened, according to Thy precious word, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hints For Personal Use Of The Bible by Rev. Dr. William K. Tweedie (1803-1863), Edinburgh, taken from the Sunday At Home magazine, 1874, pp. 183-184.
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