"The Book"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

(a repeat from 2011)

"The Book"

   

   "Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart" (Jeremiah 15:16).

   What might be our reaction if all literature and printed material ceased to exist except for the Bible?

   Disappointment would surely be warranted.  God Himself determined and allows the voluminous library of humanity to exist. Thereby illumination, inspiration, information, encouragement, entertainment, comfort and strength grace our minds (along with much deception and darkness that also come through books).  We cannot conceive the history of humanity without its literature, or consider our own lives apart from the impact of the printed word.

   On the other hand, born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ would also have cause for much joy if one book, the Book, became our only source for reading material. We would doubtless approach Scripture with an attitude of greater appreciation, gratitude, and keener attention to detail since all reading would flow with the current of one literary river.  It is hard to imagine that we would be the worse in such a scenario although, again, we do not argue against the God-ordained blessing of many books.

   Interestingly, there is a sense in which there is only one book. Indeed, Scripture occupies such a vital and eternally consequential place in our lives that we must give it a place no other literature can occupy.  There are books - and then there is the Book.  While other volumes may shed light upon our lives, the Bible is light.  "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105).  We open the sacred Volume in the awed knowledge that the Divinely breathed and inspired Word of God graces its pages from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:20.  We do so in confidence of a perfection that no other literature possesses, recognizing that the Bible is God in print just as the Lord Jesus is the Word of God in person (John 1:1).  Furthermore, we understand that Scripture illuminates, encourages and challenges our hearts, always resulting in change for the better as we read in humility and faith.

   There are books, and then there is the Book.  We give thanks for the former, and rightly so.  But we fall to our knees and faces for the latter, realizing that God's love serves as the holy source of God's Word. Yes, we open the pages of Scripture to discover its Author awaiting us therein.  Of no other literature can this be said, and if we were left with the Bible alone, we would not be the poorer.

"I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy truth: for Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name."

(Psalm 138:2)

Weekly Memory Verse

  Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

(I Corinthians 10:31)

  

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