I believe it was Mark Driscoll that said something to the effect that we should not so much be examining the Word of God, but rather letting it examine us.

It is when I come to God's Word with an attitude of letting it change me that I am most affected by reading or hearing. The Word of God can be either a life-changing event, or it can be an intellectual exercise (literature). For me, it has, at various times, been both.

The Word of God is indeed ancient - the oldest of the Words were most likely penned by Moses, the most recent Words are nearly 2,000 years old. The Words may not have been directly written for us, but certainly we can glean from them what the Spirit wills. All Scripture is God-breathed, effective and true.

It has been only recently that I have delved again into the Old Testament - I know the stories that I heard as a child, but as an adult, my reading has mostly been in the New Testament - for Christians. But there is so much in the Old Testament - when I read it with an open heart, things leap off the page in a way that I had never experienced.

With that heart, when I pray that God show me - He does. When I read so that I can cross the next passage off of my "read this" list, it becomes a literary experience.

Lord help me to remember to bring my mind and heart, open, to the Word.