When I first started reading the Bible, I read it partially. I used to love those verses that speak right to me or just about my situation, and I would stop at them. I also loved all the amazing promises. One of my top favorite verse is Jeremiah 29:11 "for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord" plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future.
Now, there is nothing wrong with liking a verse like this. It is written that " All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Which is also why we should not read the Bible partially. Let's take a quick look in my journal.
As I was studying Exodus, I got to realized how dangerous it is to just read the word partially. In Exodus 26, God mentioned to Moses to get the things that He commanded him to do by skilled workers. Now before even reading that part, I started telling myself that God probably is going to send Moses some help because He is so precise in what He wants and knowing how Moses is with questions, most definitely. But if I stopped there, I would miss what God said later on about the skilled workers.
I would have missed how in Ch 31 He went on to say that Bezabel was filled with the spirit of God which made me think about the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. He was filled with wisdom, understanding, and all kind of skills to make artistic designs. All this sounds super nice, I could have stopped there. But, I would have missed that Oholiab who was also given the ability to do all the works that was commanded was appointed as the helper. There is just so much more that happened in this book that I wish I had enough room to tell you.
From this, I realized that we should really study the Bible thoroughly because somehow everything is connected ( at least that's what I see from the small portion that I have been studying).
Reading one verse that speaks to your situation is great, but there is usually more to the story. Let us become Christians that study the word of God and not just read it partially.
Xoxo,
DD