How to read sacred texts:

Scriptures contain many keyholes to look into God through. The writer’s spiritualities are one. Look at the tone of each writer’s relationship with God. What do they repeat; what is their orientation towards the language used—the tone! Learn to read into God, through these people’s spirituality, as my mentor put it.

When you come to study in order not just to increase knowledge, but to actually meet God, you start sensing the inner meaning of the text. You overhear the tone of the writer’s conversation with God. God is the context, the bible is the text, as another put it. This is how to read devotionally—i.e. as an act of meeting God, and devoting yourself to that encounter.

Our spirituality is meeting God through the stories and words in the book, and then living that encounter out in daily life. If so, learning how to read spiritually is important.

Listen to the individual tones of the writers to determine part of the meaning. For instance in the Psalms written by the priest Asaph, he is writing as a priest, so his concerns are: staying in the actual Presence of God whether on heaven or earth; interceding for himself and his people; and that all of Israel know God. Asaph also passed between heaven and earth lots in his writings. Interesting as he was working in the temple, and knew that thin veil between the realms through prayer. Even when he is speaking of justice against the wicked, he is seeing it from their future. From another dimension in other words, outside of time. Priestly vision, and spirituality his. In that line and way.

You can’t just make the text what you project on it. Empathetically listen in prayer until you hear the actual “voices” of the writers. This is a key to actual hermeneutics, or meeting God through study.