Psalm 119:9-12 — Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord : teach me thy statutes.

The “through the year” Bible that Myra and I are using as part of our devotions this year follows a different approach from the others we have used. Instead of breaking the Psalms into pieces each day there is a complete Psalm. Instead of just one or two proverbs there is a whole chapter. I’ve found it has an interesting effect.
I used to like the way the other approaches focused my attention on one or two verses, and I wasn’t sure that I would like the change. I’m finding that I’m liking it though. It makes me look at the whole theme and sweep of the Psalm. It helps me see the connections between proverbs.
Discovering that reading the Bible in a different way helps me see more of what God is saying to me made me think about the other ways of seeing from different perspectives. The thought was reinforced as I considered a sweet, and unexpected, experience that I had earlier this week. It was one of those “bumping into each other in the car park” encounters. Usually, of course, there’s nothing in those meetings — but this time my colleague shared about how he was getting into God’s word to help deal with life’s difficulties. As we talked he shared about how his Biblical interest has taken him back to polishing his language skills so that he can compare translations in different languages. It’s another way of going deeper and seeing from different perspectives.
Bible translations in different languages led my thoughts to the variety of English translations. Now I know some of you have very rigid views of this question, believing that only one version is “right”. I have, respectfully, to disagree. I don’t believe that the only time God provided inspiration to translators was to a group of Godly — but politically motivated — men in seventeenth-century England. But my views are fairly rigid too! I’m careful to compare version with version and to check back to Greek and Hebrew (as best as my limited knowledge allows) — but I often find that cross-checking process opens my eyes to previous hidden truths.
The best, and most valuable, way of gaining added perspectives, though, is when Myra and I follow the instruction from Deuteronomy:

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

There may be other ways too, to add perspective. Seek them out! The Bible is God’s main way of talking to us. The more we can do to hear His complete message, the more value we will add to our lives.