August 2010

Psalm 119:18 gives us a good prayer to pray before reading or hearing God's Word. "Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law."

One of the greatest gifts God has given us is his Word. Sometimes I think we approach it like, "how many minutes do I have to read so God won't be angry with me?" Or "What is the minimum I can read and get away with?"

Think of reading the Bible as a window. One way is that we look at the window and only see the window. There is the glass. Is there any dust on it? Are there streaks or bug leftovers on it or bubbles in it? Think of the Bible instead as looking through a window. At my office right now I can see blue sky, white clouds, a plane flying overhead, a hawk circling high up, flowers and a parking lot full of emptiness, waiting to be filled by all of you this Sunday. There is a whole world out there to be seen if I look through the window. 

So it is with God's Word. Through it we get to see the world of God, who he is, what he has done for others and what he will do for us. There are some things that we can know about God through his general revelation of his world. He is powerful to create all. He is not like us in that he created this immense universe. There are other truths about God that will only be learned through his Word. 1 John 4:8-9 "God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent his only Son into the word so that we might live through him."

The Word of God also acts as a window through which we can look at our own world. Only God's Word can give us confidence that God is sovereign over all nations and rulers. See Acts 17:26-27. We certainly will not get that through the newscasts. Only God's Word gives us the perspective that God loves the world, sent a Savior to make things in this broken world right, and will recreate it so that he will look great.

Too many people report being bored by trying to read the Bible. We get bored by studying subjects that we think are too small to challenge us. When we look through the window of the Bible to see God and his world, we will be captured by thoughts and concepts that will challenge our minds and souls for the rest of our lives and beyond.