More than an outline in mind

Tony Stiff has written a strong essay about surfing as a metaphor for biblical exegesis:

The joy of finding an unsurfed break is a great metaphor for the ‘journey’ nature of biblical exegesis. You get to a point where you find yourself very used to the ’setup’ questions exegesis raises: history, literature, theology. And you pretty much know what are going to be the important areas to pay attention to in a passage. You kind of even have an expectation of what the text will mean at the end of the labor. But every once in awhile you find yourself starring into the face of an exegetical find that is captivating. Something that you were not prepared for and something that makes all the other routine experiences of biblical exegesis rich and meaningful.

You find something of God’s character you had under appreciated or played down in the past, or you see something of yourself that you had never beheld and you relish in the moment of being able to see it through His eyes. Biblical exegesis is a journey filled with wonder, with far away exotic places, and questions and answers and agonizings that are greater than you could have imagined. Studying God’s word ought to captivate us and fill us with the kind of anticipation a surfer has as she or he sets out to find that break that no one or few have surfed before.

Yes. And thanks to Dave Bish for the link.