If you’ve ever sat down to read the Bible and walked away feeling lost, you’re not alone. Maybe you came across a reference to something in the Old Testament, so you went looking for it. That passage pointed to another one, and that one pointed somewhere else. Before long you had five pages open, more questions than when you started, and a nagging feeling that the Bible just wasn’t written for people like you. Many people quit right there.
If that’s you, take heart. You don’t have to understand everything the first time you read it. No one does. God never meant for His Word to be mastered in a single reading. He designed it to be explored for a lifetime.
Treasure isn’t found all at once
God Himself gives us a picture of what reading His Word is like: “If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:4–5).
Think about what it means to search for hidden treasure. You don’t expect to see it lying on the surface. You dig. Your first shovelful may only turn up a few coins, but they’re real, and they’re yours. Dig a little deeper, and you find more. Come back another day, and there’s still more beneath that. The digging isn’t a sign that you’re doing it wrong. It’s simply what treasure hunting looks like.
The Bible works the same way. The first time you read a passage, you’ll understand something true, even if it’s only the surface. Come back to it later, and another layer opens up. Then another. People who have read the Bible for fifty years will tell you they’re still finding new things in passages they’ve read a hundred times.
A story with layers: the prodigal son
One of the best examples of this is the parable Jesus told about a father and his two sons (Luke 15:11–32). It’s a story many people know, but it rewards every new reading. Read the parable first, thinking about what it means as you do. Then we will discuss the layers of meanings found therein.
Luke 15:11–32 (KJV)
11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
The first time you read it, you’ll likely see a moving family story. A young man demands his inheritance early, leaves home, wastes everything, and ends up feeding pigs. He comes to his senses and heads home, planning to beg for a job as a hired servant. Instead, his father welcomes him with open arms. That reading isn’t wrong. It’s a beautiful story about a father’s love.
Read it again, and you begin to see that Jesus is really talking about God and the sinner who comes home. The father is a picture of our heavenly Father, watching and waiting: “But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). Before the son can even finish his apology, the father has already forgiven him.
Read it once more, and you may notice the story doesn’t end with the younger son. It ends with the older brother, standing outside the celebration, angry and refusing to come in: “And he was angry, and would not go in…” (Luke 15:28). He never left home, yet in his own way, he was lost too. Jesus leaves the story open, with the father pleading with him to come inside.
Then step back and look at the beginning of the chapter. Luke tells us exactly why Jesus told this story: “Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them” (Luke 15:1–2). Suddenly the older brother comes into focus. He’s a picture of the religious leaders who couldn’t stand to see God’s grace given to sinners. The parable is an invitation to them as much as to the rebel.
Look closer still, and you’ll see it’s actually the third of three stories in a row: a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. Each one ends the same way, with great rejoicing when the lost is found. “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth…” (Luke 15:7).
And then, perhaps years later, you may learn something about the culture Jesus was speaking into that makes the story hit even harder. In that world, a son asking for his inheritance while his father was still alive was like saying, “I wish you were dead.” A dignified older man would never run in public. To do so, he would have to hike up his long robes and expose his legs, which was considered shameful. Some scholars who have studied Middle Eastern village life, such as Kenneth Bailey, go further. They suggest that a son who lost his family’s inheritance among Gentiles could face being publicly cut off by his village when he returned. If so, the father ran not only out of joy but to reach his son before the community could reject him, taking the shame on himself so that his son wouldn’t have to bear it. Whether or not that custom applies here, the picture of a father willing to be humiliated to bring his child home points us straight to the cross, where Jesus took our shame upon Himself.
That’s six layers in one story, and there’s still more to find. But notice: the first reading wasn’t wrong. It just wasn’t the whole treasure.
Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything
If you feel like you’re missing things, you’re in good company. Even Jesus’ own disciples, who walked with Him every day, didn’t understand much of what they saw and heard at first. “These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him…” (John 12:16). Understanding came over time, and it came from God: “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45).
The same is true for us. The Holy Spirit is the One who teaches us as we read, and He doesn’t expect you to grasp it all at once. Peter compares new believers to newborn babies: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). Babies don’t start with steak. They grow into it.
Here are a few things that may help as you keep digging:
- You don’t have to chase every reference the first time through. It’s fine to keep reading and come back to them later.
- Hold on to what you do understand. Even one truth you grasp today is real treasure.
- Write down your questions. Some will be answered as you keep reading, and others you can bring to a pastor or a mature believer.
- Come back to passages you’ve read before. You’ll be surprised at what you notice the second, third, or tenth time.
- Ask God for understanding before you read. “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Psalm 119:18).
Keep digging
The Bible isn’t a puzzle meant to frustrate you. It’s a treasure meant to be discovered, one layer at a time, over a lifetime. And God has promised that His Word will not be wasted on you: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please…” (Isaiah 55:11).
So don’t quit. Don’t worry about what you don’t understand yet. Read what’s in front of you, hold on to what you find, and come back tomorrow. The treasure is real, and there’s always more waiting just beneath the surface.