P.B.O.

by Rik Danielsen, D. Min.

It was a late summer day in 1971 and we were just a couple of hippies who had become Christ followers sitting on the beach getting ready to study the Bible. The weather was sunny and the surf was rolling in as we sat there. I had noticed something on my buddy’s Bible I simply didn’t understand and I had to ask what it meant. He had printed the large bold letters “PBO” on the face of the pages of his Bible. Those weren’t his initials. So what did they mean? Curiosity finally got the best of me, so I asked. He looked at me like I wasn’t too smart (and he would have been right). Finally, he explained, “They stand for Pray Before Opening.” That was over fifty years ago. I’ve graduated from college and two seminaries since then. I’ve got just about all the letters behind my name a guy like me can get and that’s still one of the most brilliant things I’ve ever heard.

When we sit down to read the Bible, we should pray before we open it. Why?

1. God’s word is way beyond our comprehension and we need his help to read and understand it.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9, NASB)

If God really is who we believe him to be, we need help understanding his word and learning how to apply those teachings to our everyday lives.

2. The greatest teacher is the Holy Spirit.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.” (John 14:26, NASB)

At this point, I have to be careful because someone is going to tell me the Holy Spirit showed them they were supposed to go out and sell Crack Cocaine to support their ministry or something else equally ridiculous. Not that wasn’t God. That was the enemy. AND God not going to show you something no one in the history of Christianity has ever seen before. God hasn’t hidden a secret code in the Bible that no one has ever seen but you.

That being said, God wants to show you the sound teachings of his word and how to live for him. The more we pray and read, the clearer his word will become to us. Oh, there will always be mysteries that are difficult to understand, remember that God’s thoughts are way yonder above our thoughts. But he doesn’t want us to be ignorant of his will for our lives. He’s given us the Holy Spirit to lead us through his word.

What kind of prayer should you pray before you start reading the Bible? I’ve used a paraphrase from Psalm 119 for some time now. My simple prayer is: “Lord, please open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in your word.” God’s word is filled with wonderful teachings and I want to learn all he has for me.

My wife said something to me that applies here. She once said, “I’m not really bothered by the things in the Bible I don’t understand. It’s the things I do understand that bother me the most.” By that she meant that the simple truths and instructions in God’s word that we can easily understand are enough to challenge how we live and call for changes in the what we believe. And as usual, she was right.

All of us need to be spending time in God’s word on a daily basis, but don’t forget this simple step to take first: PBO: Pray Before Opening.

Copyright 2022, Rik Danielsen