What is the Bible to us?
Did you ever listen to someone preach, and they pepper their preaching with “The Bible says…”? And maybe there are those in the congregation who wait in breathless anticipation for the preacher to say what the Bible says. Or perhaps there are those who may have picked up the Bible once or twice in their lives, and they regard it as a book with mysterious passages that have inspired crusades, wars, inquisitions, and have triggered miracles real and imagined. And they rely on others, like a preacher, to tell them what is in the Bible because, for whatever reason, they don’t see for themselves. Maybe they believe it requires a degree in theology or a stay at a seminary to understand what is in the Bible. All those funny words, like, thee, thou, sayest, speaketh.
Maybe some think, ‘Why read the Bible when we have Dear Abbey or Ann Landers to tell us what is right and moral and proper?'
What is the Bible to us? The Bible make no distinction as to who is capable of reading and understanding it. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that a layperson should not bother reading it. The closest it may come to that is Deuteronomy 32:7 which says, “Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, YOUR ELDERS, AND THEY WILL TELL YOU. But the Bible does not say that only certain people should read it.
If fact, the Bible invites anyone to read it and meditate on its words. PSALM 1:1-2 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; BUT HIS DELIGHT IS IN THE LAW OF THE LORD, AND ON HIS LAW HE MEDITATES DAY AND NIGHT.” Does this passage say which man or woman should indulge themselves in God’s Law? Isaiah 34:16 says, “Seek and read from the book of the LORD… For the mouth of the LORD has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered [the words.]” Does this passage limit who should read from the Book?
And even Jesus, who has likened himself to a prophet in John 5:46, says to a lawyer in Luke 10:25-28 who asks him what he should do to get eternal life, ““What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” Jesus doesn’t say to the lawyer something like, ‘I am the prophet that Moses speaks of, and this is what you must do.’
What is the Bible to us all, then?
Well, Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:49-50 says, “Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.
This is my comfort…that your promise gives me life.” In this regard, the Bible is a book for anyone to spend time reading, and THEN to seek understanding of what you have read so that it doesn’t seem like a whole lot of words put together in a book that is more than 1,000 pages.
Did you ever listen to someone preach, and they pepper their preaching with “The Bible says…”? And maybe there are those in the congregation who wait in breathless anticipation for the preacher to say what the Bible says. Or perhaps there are those who may have picked up the Bible once or twice in their lives, and they regard it as a book with mysterious passages that have inspired crusades, wars, inquisitions, and have triggered miracles real and imagined. And they rely on others, like a preacher, to tell them what is in the Bible because, for whatever reason, they don’t see for themselves. Maybe they believe it requires a degree in theology or a stay at a seminary to understand what is in the Bible. All those funny words, like, thee, thou, sayest, speaketh.
Maybe some think, ‘Why read the Bible when we have Dear Abbey or Ann Landers to tell us what is right and moral and proper?'
What is the Bible to us? The Bible make no distinction as to who is capable of reading and understanding it. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that a layperson should not bother reading it. The closest it may come to that is Deuteronomy 32:7 which says, “Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, YOUR ELDERS, AND THEY WILL TELL YOU. But the Bible does not say that only certain people should read it.
If fact, the Bible invites anyone to read it and meditate on its words. PSALM 1:1-2 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; BUT HIS DELIGHT IS IN THE LAW OF THE LORD, AND ON HIS LAW HE MEDITATES DAY AND NIGHT.” Does this passage say which man or woman should indulge themselves in God’s Law? Isaiah 34:16 says, “Seek and read from the book of the LORD… For the mouth of the LORD has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered [the words.]” Does this passage limit who should read from the Book?
And even Jesus, who has likened himself to a prophet in John 5:46, says to a lawyer in Luke 10:25-28 who asks him what he should do to get eternal life, ““What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” Jesus doesn’t say to the lawyer something like, ‘I am the prophet that Moses speaks of, and this is what you must do.’
What is the Bible to us all, then?
Well, Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:49-50 says, “Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.
This is my comfort…that your promise gives me life.” In this regard, the Bible is a book for anyone to spend time reading, and THEN to seek understanding of what you have read so that it doesn’t seem like a whole lot of words put together in a book that is more than 1,000 pages.
