Caleb writes in to ask this, "Pastor John, what do you do when you're bored of reading the Bible?" I pray my little acronym or acrostic, whatever you call it, I-O-U-S, I-O-U's, and I say this, Tony, because I take unbelievably strong encouragement from the fact that the psalmist had to pray this way.

It isn't just the person who asked that question, Caleb, or me, who struggled with feeling excited about the Bible, but the psalmist did. So here's my I-O-U-S, I, incline my heart to your testimonies and not to getting gain. Psalm 119, verse 36. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing that the psalmist would ask God to incline his heart to the Word.

What? You're not inclined to the Bible sometimes, Mr. Psalmist? Or, "O, open my eyes that I may see wonderful things out of your Word." Psalm 119, verse 18. So the psalmist can go to the Word and not see anything? Just like we can stare at a page and some days the pages are blank and we feel horrible because of how insensitive we are, so we join the psalmist in praying, "O God, open my eyes and then you, I-O-U, unite my heart to fear your name." Psalm 86, 11, where my heart is all fragmented.

It's going in every direction. I'm looking at a fly on the wall or hearing something in my driveway, and I get distracted in a hundred ways. And the psalmist does too, and he's pleading, "O God, get my heart together so it can focus. I-O-U." And then maybe the most important one of all, "Satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love." Psalm 94, verse 11.

So that's what I do, Caleb. I join the psalmist in pleading, "Incline my heart, open my eyes, unite my heart, satisfy my heart. O God, don't leave me in this season of boredom or blankness or deadness." And then I got a long list of other things I do, but let me just tick them off.

I won't linger over them long because I think that right there is probably the most important thing. But I look at things that the Bible says about the Bible to rekindle my love for the Bible. "Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies." Good, I want that. "And your words are inspired and profitable for every good work." And I want that.

"And your word awakens faith." Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word. And I want that. "And your word gives life." We're born through the word. "And your words are life. To whom shall we go?" I want life. "And your words make me holy. Sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth." I want to be holy. "Your word gives freedom. You'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Don't you want all those things, Caleb? Well, they're only found in the word of God. That's the way I preach to myself, so I'm preaching that way to Caleb.

So I look to see what the Bible says about the Bible. And then when I'm really in need, I read sermons by those who are not bored by the Bible. For me, that's often Jonathan Edwards. I come away from a sermon by Jonathan Edwards loving the Bible, wanting to see what he saw, wanting to feel what he felt.

So let that happen. Or go to church and listen to pastors who are gifted in opening the word by exalting over the word so that what they love in the word and see in the word kindles you. And oh my, the list goes on and on. But I'll probably stop there and say, "Caleb, you're not alone.

We all are up and down in the degree to which we love to read the Bible." And maybe the last thing I should say is, even when you don't feel like it, keep tending the garden like a farmer who has to get out there every day and pull the weeds and till the soil, not because that day the fruit is going to grow up, but sooner or later, in God's sovereign timing, it'll grow if you tend your garden.

Thank you, Pastor John. And for more on the IOUs, see chapter 9 of Pastor John's book, "When I Don't Desire God, How to Fight for Joy," which is a book you can download for free at DesiringGod.org. I'm your host, Tony Ranke. Thanks for listening. (end) (music) (music)