How to read the Bible and How to eat an Orange

Ever since I could remember, I've always been taught to read the Bible. Every morning, I would get asked whether or not I read the Bible before I started my day. I found myself reading the Bible just so I could say that I read it. Recently, I was conversing with a friend about reading the Bible. We both came to the agreement that while we were always taught to read the Bible, we were never taught how exactly to read the Word of God. I found myself reading the Bible like a leisurely reading book- admiring the amazing stories and nodding my head at the truths I found. It wasn't until I started regularly attending a bible study that I learned how exactly I should be reading the bible. One friend of mine described reading the Word of God as peeling an orange. Stay with me here, I know it sounds crazy, but the analogy works here.

"What is the proper way to eat an orange?

A wise old man from Florida once said the only way to eat an orange was to cut a hole through the top of the orange. Once the top part of the orange had a hole in it, you had to squeeze or suck all the juice out of the orange. Once the orange had been drained of all its juice, then the orange can be peeled and the actual fruit can be eaten.

Just like the proper peeling of this orange, the Bible has to be properly peeled in order to get the most juice out. If the Word of God is being read or studied, one must try to squeeze the juice out of each and every single verse, not quickly try to peel it apart. The verses must be savored, each sip of the juice must be enjoyed thoroughly and to its fullest. Then one can move on to further peel back all its goodness and digest the fruit of the matter."

When I heard this I thought, wow how true! Each verse has so many nuggets of gold within it that to simply skim through a verse doesn't allow one to squeeze all the juice out of it. What's amazing is that no matter how many times you sit down to eat this orange, it will never ever run out of juice! Praise God for His ability to reveal something new to us each time we sit down to read a verse no matter if it is the 50th time reading that same verse. 

Thank you Lord, for providing us with an instruction manual for life and the instructions for how to read the manual itself.

Psalm 119:105-
Your word is a lamp to my feet 
And a light to my path.