The Bible

Romans 15:4

“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Have you ever heard the acronym “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth?”  I find it rather fitting for the Bible.  (Though in some things it doesn’t seem so basic.)  I am thankful for God’s instruction.

The Bible isn’t an indexed manual.  It isn’t something that you can look up a specific topic and see what it says about that topic.  There are too many different situations, both in life and the Bible, to be able to do it by topic.  You can look up a word - but what if the Bible used a different word that’s similar?  I have often run into this while looking for a verse to pair with one of my thankful things.  I use an online concordance, but it has its limits.

This is why it is so important to read our Bibles.  We need to know them inside and out, to study them, so that we can at least have an idea of where to look (or what wording is used) to find our answer.  It’s amazing how often someone who knows their Bible well can find the portion of it that applies to a situation.  Sometimes our minds just don’t connect what we’re going through with something in the Bible, and it takes another person to point it out to us.  

I won’t say that I’ve found a portion of the Bible for every situation I’ve been in, but I do believe God has given us all of the tools we need to deal with our situations and circumstances.  The Bible ranks rather high on that list of tools - and many more tools are found within its pages.  The Bible itself is one of the basic tools of following God.

With recent changes in my life it has been easy to let my Bible study fall a bit to the wayside.  I have finally noticed God’s loving and gracious nudges.  Reading my Bible is meant to be an encouragement, not a burden.  When I shift my focus from myself to God, His Word is a huge encouragement.  He has shown me that I need to re-prioritize my Bible reading a bit.  

How well do you know your Bible?  Is it time to make that a higher priority?