Paul Thompson counsels us to stop reading the Bible for information and moral codes. Instead, read it to know who God is. Ask, "what does this tell me about God?" This liberates us from a wrong fear of God that prohibits us from really knowing Him.

I don't think we can at all understand the fear of God if we're not taking the time to read the Bible. The very thing that God gave to us to tell us who He is. And I would tell people to stop reading the Bible for information. Stop reading the Bible for moral codes. Stop reading the Bible to correct your children.

Stop reading as the primary reason of reading the Bible. And read the Bible so that you might know who God is. And that in doing so, when you get done reading a piece of scripture, asking yourself, what does this tell me about God? And say it's a piece of scripture that speaks of the fear of God. What does that tell me about God and how should I respond to God in this way?

If I would read the Bible more like this, if people in my church would read the Bible more like this, then when we read these words, they're not just cold words on a page, they're not just moralistic stories, and they're not just things that that other people should do or they're speaking about bad things that other people do but not me. We quit reading the Bible like that. We should read the Bible to get to know this God. And yes this word that God has given to us will show us that He is a jealous God and that He does not give any room for anyone to give plurality of their worship to another God. And So this God elevates Himself in our view of Him.

He's elevated in this respect that He is a sovereign God and He is a holy God. And that in that position He's not at all like any of us. We can't even say he's bigger than us because he's just completely different than us and he has a right to demand these things, he has the authority to demand these things, and if we will read the Bible to get to know who God is, it will literally liberate us from a wrong fear of God, a fear of God that would keep us from even getting to know Him. You