Delighting in The Bible

The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
    making wise the simple;
 the precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
 the fear of the Lord is clean,
    enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
    and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
From Psalm 19 (ESV)

I remember an old preacher talking about the danger of neglecting the Bible, warning us of the risky possibility of allowing our Bibles to gather dust from Sunday to Sunday. It was his point that Christians need to be reading our Bibles regularly -- every day, when possible. Some of the reasons for that are listed in these verses from Psalm 19. Psalm 119 -- the longest chapter in the Bible -- has MUCH to say about the importance of God's law, His precepts, His commands. And where are they found? In the Bible! There are many references to the Scriptures and the Word in the New Testament. Ephesians speaks of the Christian's defense against the powers of darkness when it calls God's Word "the sword of the Spirit".

Good Christian books can bless us and help us in this journey we call life. But those books -- as good as many of them are -- contain the opinions of the authors. Second and third hand information is great, if accurate, but when we go to the Bible, we go to the source. We nourish our souls with its truth and beauty. And we hear directly from God. Some have said that in praying we talk to God and in reading the Bible, God talks to us.

Christian reader, do not allow your spirit to languish from malnutrition. Be fed from the Bible. Grow in grace and knowledge, as Peter said in his New Testament writing. Don't allow the devil to make you think you cannot understand the Bible and use that as an excuse to let yours "gather dust".
You are reading online, so if you don't own a Bible you can go to a site such as BibleGateway.com. They feature a verse of the day on their main page. You could read that verse every day and ask the Lord to show you something from it.


Note:
This blog will be sporadic from now on because of time away from home. I pray my time in the Bible will not suffer, but will even grow.  The Bible is, to me, "more to be desired" than gold, sweeter than honey!