Hidden In Plain Sight

Soldiers train not to miss the trees for the forest.  It's been awhile but some of the indicators that we were taught to look for were things like texture, straight lines and of course movement.  One teaching point that I will never forget and still use today is to look from right to left.  Why?

From the earliest of ages we read from left to right.  The highly scientific reason that we do that is because we write from left to right.  We write from left to right because the Greeks and the Latins did.  A number of people think we write from left to right; top to bottom, to reduce smudging.  (That is if you're still using wet ink.)

The reason infantry soldiers are taught to observe right to left is because the mind is so amazing that after years of looking in the normal manner, the mind anticipates what it is going to see. Unfortunately the mind isn't always right.  Sometimes the mind misses things hidden in plain sight. The soldier has to trick the mind; force it to work harder.  The end result is better observation.

I thought today that as Christians who study God's Word, we need to be careful that we don't miss things hidden in plain sight -- or even worse see things in the Bible that aren't there.  Sometimes we are told things about the Bible by so many people, in so many ways, we just assume they are right. To make matters worse, we read into the Bible what is not there.  And in doing so, we miss what is really there.

Don't become so familiar with your Bible that you miss what is in plain sight.   I try to follow several rules that have helped me over these last few years.  It might sound like back-woods study techniques; and it sure won't impress too many seminary professors -- but it helps.  Here they are:

1. What's the first impression that a newly saved Christian would get from this passage? Somehow we want to read the Bible without all the baggage of excessive presuppositions. So as we approach the passage, let us pray: “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” (Psalm 119:18, NIV). 
2. Can my mother understand this?  Yes, I really think that.  Now my mother was smart.  She read and taught the Bible for many years.  She spoke English and a couple Nigerian languages.  She could even get the gist of a little Gaelic.  But if my mother needed Greek and Hebrew, a little Aramaic and especially needed to know a top secret number code to really understand the Bible, I'm in the wrong camp.   Bible interpretation has less to do with linguistics and more to do with hard work.  “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15, NIV).  "Do your best" equates to "work hard, endeavor, exert oneself."  Paul used the same word a few chapters later:  “Do your best to come to me quickly,” (2 Timothy 4:9, NIV).
3. Lastly, read it yourself before you read others.  When we refer to study notes, commentaries, media sermons etc. prematurely, it becomes very hard to see the passage clearly.  Now don't be confused.  I think it is arrogant and fool-hardy not to read what other godly people say about a text, but read the text yourself first.   Look for weird things, repeated things -- things that shouldn't be there.   Those are the straight lines and and the movements that alert you that there's something in the bush.  The Jewish leaders in Jesus' days on earth read the Scriptures and learned them faithfully.  But they missed the tree for the forest.   “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,” (John 5:39, NIV).

Someone has said that "the devil is in the details."   No so when it comes to God's Word.  In the Scriptures the truth is in the details.  It is hidden in plain sight.  Read the Bible today like you've never read it before!  With the help of the Holy Spirit you will see things you didn't know were there. You will also not see things that you thought were there.