January 11, 2015

Get Into God’s Word

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth

(John 1:14 NKJV).

Throughout the Old Testament God routinely spoke to people. In these thirty‑nine books God gave them instructions, and promises with conditions. Some people understood what God was saying, others didn’t. Some tried to live by it with varying degrees of success, while others rejected it and decided to do their own thing. Then God did something truly incredible: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one‑of‑a‑kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish” (v. 14 TM). Jesus was a living Bible! John tells us, “The Word was God” (v. 1 NKJV), so the more you get into the Word and get it into you, the more of God you are depositing within you. You say, “But sometimes I don’t get much out of reading the Bible.” A word to the wise: When you start studying the Bible, don’t do it to find some new truth nobody else has ever seen. Do it with the attitude, “Lord, what are You saying to me?” The problem most of us have isn’t interpreting the difficult passages. It’s obeying the ones we already understand! The Word of God provides you with two things:

(1) Protection. The Psalmist said, “Unless your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life” (Psalm 119:92‑93 NKJV).

(2) Direction. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (v. 105 NKJV). Need direction? Need protection? Get into God’s Word.

“We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.”

... John R.W. Stott