First, a gem from Spurgeon
A man who wants to see a country, must not hurry through it by express train, but he must stop in the towns and villages, and see what is to be seen. He will know more about the land and its people if he walks the highways, climbs the mountains, stays in the homes, and visits the workshops; than if he does so many miles in the day, and hurries through picture galleries as if death were pursuing him. Don’t hurry through Scripture, but pause for the Lord to speak to you. Oh, for more meditation!
Second, a thought I came across from Professor Kass. Amy A. Kass is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. For thirty years, she has been an award-winning teacher of classic texts in the College of the University of Chicago
This came from an introduction to teaching classic texts, explaining why such texts need to be read carefully and taught skillfully.
It explains a fair bit of what I try to do in preaching. It also details what we all should strive for in reading Scripture for observation, meditation and application.
As any teacher knows, most good books do not teach themselves. We are all frequently lazy readers who pass off what is puzzling or unfamiliar, and even worse, who fail to see the depth in what is, by contrast, familiar and congenial.