As a child, I loved to sing in church. When we opened our hymnals, I understood, there was an emotional connection to what we were doing in song. I felt it. Glorious truth paired with stirring melody was a combination that connected with me deeply.

Some of the older women of the church would shed tears as they sang songs of God’s faithfulness. I remember the joy on my father’s face as he would bellow out truth, eyebrows raised on his forehead.

But when the singing concluded and we opened our bibles, I had difficulty feeling that same kind of connection. The Bible was much more complex than three verses of hymnody. The pages of Scripture didn’t seem to ring with the same raw emotion as a folk melody. I believed in inerrancy from childhood, and upheld the authority of Scripture, but I rarely felt deeply when we heard God’s word read or taught. Maybe you have experienced the same thing.