Orange Moon Friday, December 2, 2022 "The Book"

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

    

              "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 be a proper response.  God Himself has certainly played a role in the voluminous library of human literature that exists. Thereby, illumination, inspiration, information, encouragement, entertainment, comfort, and strength grace our minds through countless volumes. We cannot conceive the history of humanity without its literature, or fathom our own lives apart from the impact of the printed word.  Thus, we might initially feel a sense of sadness if the human library ceased to exist.

    On the other hand, born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ would also have cause for 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 perhaps keener attention to detail since all reading would flow to and from one literary river.  It is hard to imagine that we would be the worse in such a scenario, although we reiterate that the existence of many books rather than just one has a place in God's purposes.

    In a sense, there is only one book. Indeed, Scripture occupies such a vital and eternity-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. 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, and we recognize that the Bible is the Word of God in print, just as the Lord Jesus is the Word of God in person.  Furthermore, we understand that Scripture will illuminate, encourage and challenge our hearts, always resulting in change for the better as we respond to its truth.  "Thy Word hath quickened (enlivened) me" (Psalm 119:50).

   There are books, and then there is the Book. We rightly thanks for the former and they blessings they are.  However, we fall to our knees and faces before the latter, realizing the singular place of grace and truth occupied by Scripture alone.  We open its pages with absolute assurance of discovering the very heart and mind of its Author.  Of no other literature can this be said, and if we were left with the Bible alone, we would not the poorer for it.

"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)

"Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart."

(Jeremiah 15:16)

Weekly Memory Verse   

   "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth…. Be clothed with humility."

 (III John 1:4; I Peter 5:5)

  

  

   

   

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