Notes of Faith November 7, 2024
Why Read the Bible?
Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:11
A mother tells her five-year-old not to eat a cookie off a plate with six cookies. When she returns, she sees that two of the cookies are gone. “Didn’t I ask you not to eat a cookie?” the mom asks. “Yes,” comes the confident reply. “Then why did you disobey?” the mom asks. “I didn’t disobey. You told me not to eat one of the cookies, and I didn’t eat one; I ate two.”
That’s an illustration of Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things.” It also illustrates what the comedic actor W. C. Fields said when asked why he was reading the Bible. He confessed, “I’m looking for a loophole.” It’s a human tendency to see how close we can get to “the line” without actually crossing it. Some people read the Bible that way—to find God’s “lines.” Instead of moving toward God’s lines, we should move toward God Himself. When we are consumed with Him, we will please Him in all things—not by avoiding the bad but by walking in the good.
Read God’s Word in order to love Him, not to avoid offending Him.
The business of our lives is not to please ourselves but to please God.
Matthew Henry
Ps 37:31
31 The law of his God is in his heart;
His steps do not slip.
Heb 11:6-7
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
We must believe that God exists before we are interested in what He has to say. God will indeed reward those who seek Him. He is always seeking His people, we just need to be aware, listen, and respond by doing what God desires for us.
God’s Word exists. It is not the Word of man about God. It is the Word of God, completely inerrant in the original writings and contains all that man needs for a righteous relationship with God,
Isa 55:6
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
These Words of God are in the Scriptures He gave to us…but you must be in them to find these treasures. Read daily the Word of God and you will find talking to Him in prayer a much easier thing to do and experience the greatest relationship you have or ever will have!
Pastor Dale