Rediscovering God’s Word

In an age overflowing with opinions, revelations, and endless content, many believers are unknowingly drifting from the one thing that anchors true spiritual life — God’s Word.

When Hearing Replaces Reading

Craig Keener shares the story of a friend who stopped reading the Bible because she believed she could hear directly from God. Her reasoning? “If I can hear God for myself, why read what others heard?” But this mindset — while seemingly spiritual — proved dangerous. Soon, she began embracing wild ideas not rooted in Scripture, including one so theologically absurd it revealed how far she had strayed: that Christians could become the “fourth member of the Trinity.”

This is the risk when experience overshadows Scripture. Without the Bible’s boundaries, we become vulnerable to deception cloaked in spiritual language.

The Josiah Awakening

Keener draws a powerful parallel to King Josiah in 2 Kings 22. Though Josiah sincerely followed God from a young age, he had never encountered God’s Word personally until a forgotten scroll — the book of the Law — was discovered during temple renovations. When he heard its words, Josiah was shaken. He tore his clothes in mourning, recognizing how far the nation had fallen.

That moment marked a national return to Scripture — and history changed because one man trembled at God’s Word.

How many of us still respond to Scripture with that kind of urgency?

Scripture: The Non-Negotiable Standard

While God does speak today — through His Spirit, through people, through circumstances — Scripture remains the measuring stick. It’s the only revelation universally given and preserved by God as our ultimate standard. It governs how we interpret every other voice, vision, or “word.”

Throughout church history, God’s movements of revival — from the Reformation to the early Pentecostal outpourings — have always been tethered to a rediscovery of Scripture. Even spiritual giants like Smith Wigglesworth warned that if Pentecostals neglected the Word in favor of experiences, they would drift into error.

Experience, tradition, and reason are valuable. But they must all bow to the authority of Scripture.

The Modern Crisis: Bible Disengagement

Today’s Church faces a new kind of famine — not of bread, but of Bible engagement. Despite owning more Bibles than any generation before, many believers rely on social media influencers or celebrity preachers to interpret God’s Word for them.

According to the American Bible Society, U.S. adults personally interacting with Scripture outside of church dropped from 53% in 2014 to just 38% in 2024. That means fewer Christians are reading, studying, or meditating on Scripture for themselves.

This disengagement leaves us spiritually malnourished and vulnerable to distorted teachings.

Back to the Book

What’s the way forward?

We need to reclaim a Josiah spirit — one that trembles at God’s Word.

We need pastors and leaders who, like Ezra, are devoted to studying, living, and teaching Scripture (Ezra 7:10). We need churches that prioritize expository preaching — opening the Bible, reading it in context, and applying it with clarity and conviction.

We need believers who don’t just skim daily verses but immerse themselves in God’s truth — allowing it to challenge, correct, and transform them.

Final Word

As Keener puts it:

“We should want to hear God more than tradition or our own desires.”

In a world of noise, confusion, and distraction, the Church’s power and clarity will return when we rediscover the voice that has never changed — the voice written in Scripture.

Let’s not settle for summaries or secondhand spirituality.

Let’s return to the Word.

Adapted from Article by Craig Keener. Read original article.