Irritating Bible Verses

Last Sunday it was my Sunday to teach the teens. I wanted a real sit-down conversation about the Bible. Paulo couldn’t handle it very well. He is used to being taught AT: where he sits down and listens but doesn’t need to do anything else. So when I opened with, “Paulo, why do we have the Bible?” He looked shocked and scared and horrified all at once. Because he isn’t used to having to process. Having to participate. But that is what we need. That is how we LEARN.
I choose to share with the teens the things that God is teaching me. Lately, I’ve been learning that the Bible is irritating. It is frustrating and full of ugly things I really don’t like or want anything to do with (currently reading Ezekiel). AND YET.
And yet I believe it. And yet it is the inerrant Word of God. I don’t understand, but I still hold on to it. As my friend says, who loves to quote Chesterton: "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried." I am trying.
I asked the kids if they believed the Bible: of course. I asked them if they had read it all: of course not. (well that should eventually change) Then there were parts of the Bible they had never seen before? How did they know they believed it if they hadn’t even read it? What if they started reading all those in-between parts and found some weird stuff? I gave them a heads up—there is tons of weird stuff. Stuff about mother’s eating their babies. Stuff about wanting their enemy’s children dashed on rocks. And that is only the beginning.
I told the kids that there are a lot of smart people out there that will find those weird/hard parts of the Bible and throw it in your face. And you will have to struggle with it. But you don’t have to be embarrassed for God. He already knew it was there, and why it was there. And maybe someday you’ll understand too, or get to ask Him yourself about it.
And maybe you will never understand it, but you will get to know God better after you struggle. You will get to know yourself better after the struggle. You will be blessed in the struggle.
What about all that stuff that isn’t written in the Bible that you want to know? Like what to do when that guy asks you out? Or anything about video games (because I checked, “video games” are not in the Bible)? The Bible is there to help you get to know God, and as you get to know God, you begin to understand the principles about what He thinks and wants for your life. Somehow, and I don't really know how, everything we need is there, in that Bible.
It was a good discussion. It was real. Even if I had to drag Paulo into it. It wasn’t just “Read your Bible because it will help you” talk. It was “Read your Bible to get to know God. And even then you won’t understand all of Him because He is God. But keep going because it is worth it.”