The Bible...just a book or a treasure?

I have a beautiful diamond ring that I love to wear. 

 It has been handed down through the women in my dad’s family.  We can trace it back to my great great Aunt. You can imagine that it means A LOT to me.  I treasure it not just because it is beautiful but also because it is a part of my history.  I don’t wear it very often, and keep it in a red leather pouch in my jewelry drawer.   

One day, I went to wear it for a special occasion and it wasn’t there, the whole pouch was gone!  I panicked.  I always keep it in the same place. I searched all through my jewelry and everywhere I thought it might be.  I was literally sick to my stomach for days and searched everywhere I could think of. I even analyzed who had been in my house, could someone have stolen it?  I looked and relooked for it and completely emptied my jewelry drawer…but could not find it.  I was beside myself.   

Days later, I open the bottom drawer in my dresser to get out an old sweatshirt and as I lifted it out I found a red leather pouch stuffed under the clothes in the corner…and then I remembered…I was going on a long trip and had hidden my special jewelry in that drawer away from my regular jewelry in case we got robbed.   

Oh, how I love menopause!   

I can’t tell you the relief I felt when I found that ring that I treasure!!!

Take a look at this video…

This is a group of Chinese Christians receiving their very first bibles.  Pretty emotional isn’t it?  Convicting.  Did you see how each person caressed and kissed their new bible, most all of them were crying, and it was very obvious that they considered this bible a most treasured gift. 

How many bibles do you have in your home?  I’m a pastor’s wife…I have a lot.  How often do you hold your bible, God’s Word, like it is a treasure worth more than gold and diamonds?

Over the next several posts,  I want to share with you, through the lens of my life, how holding fast to God’s Word will provide you with the comfort, courage, care and conformity to Christ that will hold you up in difficult times.

The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 2:16 to "hold firmly to the Word of Life"

If I hold out a rope to you and ask you to hold it FIRMLY what will you do? 
yes, you will grasp it with BOTH hands.  If I hold out something else for you to hold at the same time, you no longer have a firm grasp on the rope.  I want to share with you why it is important to hold firmly to the Word of Life. Because when a hard, and I mean gut wrenching hard, time comes, if we have not spent the time getting to know God through His Word, if we have not allowed him to prove himself trustworthy in our lives….we will loosen our grip, let go of God’s promises and grasp fear and anxiety instead.

About 3 years ago, I felt God calling me to a deeper study.  I have most always been in some kind of Bible study but I had a desire in my heart to just go deeper and so I joined a precept study.  They had been going through the old testament and were starting Isaiah at the time. If you have never done a Kay Arthur precept study, it is what they call an inductive study…studying scripture word for word, precept upon precept.  

 

Shortly into the study I read Is. 5:13 "Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding" and was impressed with the importance God put on knowing Him.  God says in that passage that his people, Israel, were going to go into exile for their lack of knowledge (of Him). Their lack of knowledge of God had caused them to turn to idols and other kingdoms for their comfort and security.  They didn’t KNOW God and therefore did not trust in Him.

The most effective way we have to get to know God is through His Word. We see every side of his character within the pages of our Bible.  And as we study that, it affects our life…

.... in my next post, we will see how God's Word provides comfort in hard times.