Pickles, Baked Potatos and a V~8!
When I was pregnant with my second son, I craved salt. If at all possible, each day for lunch, I would attempt to scrape together what scarce change I could find (we were fairly poor at the time)and drive down to a little market in our small Texas town to buy three things: a large sour pickle, a baked potato with all the fixins, and a can of V~8 juice. I was young, so I never stopped to think about why I was craving those things. All I knew was that I just HAD to have them!! And so the goal of my days became how could I manage to find the money for my all consuming lunch binge!
I wish that I could say I had the same insatiable desire each day for reading my Bible as I did back then for that pickle! But I do know one thing, I need God's Word. I can give all of the pat answers as to the why I need it, but I want to know for myself. Truly, what do I believe about His Word?
I know a few things that it isn't. It isn't a magical book with power in itself. It isn't something to be worshiped...it points to the One worthy of all worship. And a truth that I thought was quite astounding, it isn't God Himself. That never occurred to me until my son's youth pastor held up his Bible in his hand and said, "This. This isn't God." Saaay, what? I never thought about that...
So, on a basic level (and please remember that I'm only attempting to talk truth to my own self here). God's Word is His own revelation about Himself, to us. His words. Scripture, God~breathed. All of it.
Another pastor in our church explained it this way when we were going through the book of Exodus on Sunday mornings...the Bible is like having the burning bush with us every day. God is speaking to us through it, about Himself (paraphrased from memory). Can you imagine that! Kind of sheds a new light and births greater desire in my soul to keep reading my Bible each day...
Yesterday I began a focused search on what God has to say about His own words. I went to an obvious passage..."Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." ~ Psalm 119:105. And then I sat back and looked at the whole picture of Psalm 119. I confess that I often picked out tiny morsels from this large chapter, yet what I found amazed me. The whole chapter is about God's word. Though the author uses the terms "promises, precepts, testimonies, rules, law, word", the message is clear. The author of this chapter loved God's word and learned most likely through a lifetime of trials to treasure it.
So I began to underline all of the times I noticed the referrals...then I found a commentary that stated the "word" is mentioned at least 171 times out of 176 verses. Now this is probably not news to many people who know their Bibles. But it was new to me. I also know that this chapter is not intended to be some kind of formula for anything, but it does contain valuable recordings of the benefits of God's word. The delightful treasures that the author discovered in valuing and keeping God's word, I want to discover those treasures as well...I want to know Him more and His character, and herein lies the beautiful gift of His word: knowing God.
When I step across the inevitable veil from this life to the next, I know I'm going to be in awe of Him when I see Him. My mind cannot imagine what He will look like! But I also don't want Him to be someone I am unfamiliar with. I want my homecoming to be like stepping across the threshold of a front door into a living room of my Father's house.
Help me to value and treasure your Word in all truth Lord! Thank you for the burning bush I have available to me every day!! Thank you that I will never exhaust the unfathomable riches of knowing you!! Give me a greater craving and hunger for you...
"The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces" v. 72...or pickles, baked potatos and V~8 juice!
I know a few things that it isn't. It isn't a magical book with power in itself. It isn't something to be worshiped...it points to the One worthy of all worship. And a truth that I thought was quite astounding, it isn't God Himself. That never occurred to me until my son's youth pastor held up his Bible in his hand and said, "This. This isn't God." Saaay, what? I never thought about that...
So, on a basic level (and please remember that I'm only attempting to talk truth to my own self here). God's Word is His own revelation about Himself, to us. His words. Scripture, God~breathed. All of it.
Another pastor in our church explained it this way when we were going through the book of Exodus on Sunday mornings...the Bible is like having the burning bush with us every day. God is speaking to us through it, about Himself (paraphrased from memory). Can you imagine that! Kind of sheds a new light and births greater desire in my soul to keep reading my Bible each day...
Yesterday I began a focused search on what God has to say about His own words. I went to an obvious passage..."Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." ~ Psalm 119:105. And then I sat back and looked at the whole picture of Psalm 119. I confess that I often picked out tiny morsels from this large chapter, yet what I found amazed me. The whole chapter is about God's word. Though the author uses the terms "promises, precepts, testimonies, rules, law, word", the message is clear. The author of this chapter loved God's word and learned most likely through a lifetime of trials to treasure it.
So I began to underline all of the times I noticed the referrals...then I found a commentary that stated the "word" is mentioned at least 171 times out of 176 verses. Now this is probably not news to many people who know their Bibles. But it was new to me. I also know that this chapter is not intended to be some kind of formula for anything, but it does contain valuable recordings of the benefits of God's word. The delightful treasures that the author discovered in valuing and keeping God's word, I want to discover those treasures as well...I want to know Him more and His character, and herein lies the beautiful gift of His word: knowing God.
When I step across the inevitable veil from this life to the next, I know I'm going to be in awe of Him when I see Him. My mind cannot imagine what He will look like! But I also don't want Him to be someone I am unfamiliar with. I want my homecoming to be like stepping across the threshold of a front door into a living room of my Father's house.
Help me to value and treasure your Word in all truth Lord! Thank you for the burning bush I have available to me every day!! Thank you that I will never exhaust the unfathomable riches of knowing you!! Give me a greater craving and hunger for you...
"The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces" v. 72...or pickles, baked potatos and V~8 juice!
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