Nibbling at Theology

At the end of this May, Steve and I will celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary. Someday we hope to celebrate it in a big way. We had planned to do so this year with a trip to three beautiful old world cities in Europe. But alas. Plans changed when the Lord directed our steps differently. “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9.) The Lord’s plans are always for our good. 

I’m still thinking about this milestone - it’s not 50 years, but it is a thing - and am wanting to acknowledge it in some way. What I have decided to do is to write a short recommendation for four of the books that the two of us have read together during the last 45 years. A trip down memory land for me, and hopefully an encouragement for others.

We never read a book without bringing to it all of the circumstances in our lives at the time we are reading. I suppose you could dismiss my delight in this book because I happened to be falling in love with the man who I was reading it with! 

Steve and I met in the spring semester of our freshman year at Biola University in a speech class. We really got to know each other in the next year as we walked three times a week from a shared English class to chapel. This led to great discussions about the chapel message and an awareness that we shared the same love for the Word of God. Even when we no longer attended a shared class in the spring, we met to sit by each other in chapel. 

One day, Steve suggested we read a book together. He had checked out how to reserve a room in the library for a study session. We began meeting weekly on Thursday afternoons to talk about a chapter in Knowing God by J. I. Packer. We both still have our books from almost fifty years ago, marked up and underlined. 

I remember loving the second section  - “Behold Your God”  - eleven chapters on individual attributes of God. It was theology 101 for me. And more than that. It was a coming to know the God that had saved me.  It was here many foundational truths were planted in my mind and heart that God has watered over the years. Truth about God will always bear fruit. 

What surprises me today reading again the forward and introductory chapters is how much I missed!  So much. Embrassesingly so. 

I missed the references to reformed theology. At that time I did not know there were names to different theologies.  

I missed much of the instruction about the practical spiritual benefits of knowing God.

By missed, I mean it went over my head. My eyes saw every word on every page. I even underlined significant sentences. There were just no categories in my life experience to interact with all that I was reading. I was not ready or able to think deeply on those things nor act on them. I realize now that I had been offered a feast and only nibbled on some of it while being oblivious to the rest. Isn’t it good of God to let us nibble? What parent forces a baby to chew and swallow an expensive steak and lobster dinner when the best thing for her is smashed avocado? What parent doesn’t also hope that one day the child will have the joy of feasting on the finest of foods?

God is and has been patient and kind with me. I am ever so thankful for the work He began in my life. And the work He continues to do. I am so thankful that in His plan I have been married for 45 years to a husband who thinks and reads. Someone who wants to understand Truth. Someone who has grown alongside me in learning, patient when I was slow to grasp and curious when I was more perceptive. 

May I encourage you to take up this book and read? And may the Lord bless the truth of His Word to you no matter the size of your nibbles! 

"Thus says the LORD: 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom,

let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,

but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me,

that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.

For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.'"

Jer. 9:23-24