Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments. . . . And all the people took their stand for the covenant (2 Kings 23:3).
THEME
THE POWER OF GOD'S WORD
On June 15, 1215, in the grass field of Runnymeade, one document of sixty-three paragraphs changed the course of a whole nation. That charter of human rights, called the Magna Carta, became the rallying point for the British for generations to come.
God gave Israel some words on a mountaintop that were far more powerful than those ratified in an English field two millenniums later. But evidently Israel did not find God's words important; they lost some of them for at least half a century. Finally, in 622 b.c., Hilkiah the high priest found a portion of God's Word, perhaps Deuteronomy, in the temple. He gave the sacred section to Josiah the king, and the holy words changed the rest of Josiah's reign. The people destroyed their heathen idols and began to worship God again.
Whenever people in biblical times read and followed God's Word, it changed their lives. As they remembered what God had said, they moved back to the main road. But soon their memories faded, and they once again sauntered down side streets.
To correct mixed-up memories and homemade maps, God gave one final Word--Jesus Christ, the fullest expression of His mind. Christ's Words and life have become not only a precious memory and a spiritual centerpiece, but also the only sure way to find God at the end of the road.
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JUN 10
2 KINGS 22:8-20
When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law . . . he tore his clothes (2 Kings 22:11).
Complex family problems divided an Alabama family. In the turmoil, a young boy went to live with his father and came to believe that he belonged there. Later, he recognized himself on a special television program about missing children. Realizing that he belonged with someone else, he told his babysitter, who then called authorities. Before long, the child was in his mother's arms.
This reminded me of what happened to King Josiah in 2 Kings 22. He had assumed that he and his nation were where they belonged spiritually. But one day Hilkiah the priest found the long-lost law of God and read it to Josiah. The king suddenly realized that sin had separated him and his people from their God. He tore his clothes in personal repentance and concern for his people. As a result, the nation repented and returned to the God to whom they belonged (2 Kings 23). It all came about because Josiah saw himself and his people in the words of the Scriptures.
We sometimes assume that we are where we belong spiritually, when in fact we have unconfessed sin in our lives. To keep this from happening, we must read the Bible as God's personal message to us. He gave it to us so that we could see ourselves in it, recognize our sin, and confess. Then, when we repent, we will be "reunited" with Him.
--M.R.D.II
Other books were given for our information; the Bible was given for our transformation.
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JUN 11
PSALM 119:9-16
Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You (Psalm 119:11).
Michael Billester, a Bible distributor, visited a small hamlet in Poland shortly before World War II and gave a Bible to a villager who read it and was converted. The new believer then passed the Book on to others. The cycle of conversions and sharing continued until two hundred people had become believers through that one Bible. When Billester returned in 1940, this group of Christians met together for a worship service and asked him to preach the Word. He normally asked for testimonies, but this time he suggested that several in the audience recite verses of Scripture. One man stood and said, "Perhaps we have misunderstood. Did you mean verses or chapters?"
The villagers had not memorized a few selected verses of the Bible but whole chapters and books. Thirteen people knew Matthew, Luke, and half of Genesis. Another person knew the Psalms. That single copy of the Bible given by Billester had done its work. Transformed lives bore witness to the power of the Word.
Most people in the United States have easy access to Bibles. Many homes have several on their shelves. So we often take the Scriptures for granted. To experience for ourselves the Bible's transforming power, we must read and memorize it and apply its truth daily. Like the psalmist, we must hide the Word in our hearts. In the soul, not on the shelf, is where it takes root and produces godly lives.
--P.R.V.
Too many people put the Bible on the shelf instead of into their hearts.
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JUN 12
ACTS 4:32-37
You are . . . His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you (1 Peter 2:9).
As newsman Clarence W. Hall followed American troops through Okinawa in 1945, he and his jeep driver came upon a small town that stood out as a beautiful example of a Christian community. He wrote, "We had seen other Okinawan villages, . . . down at the heels and despairing; by contrast, this one shone like a diamond in a dung heap. Everywhere we were greeted by smiles and dignified bows. Proudly the old men showed us their spotless homes, their terraced fields, . . . their storehouses and granaries, their prized sugar mill."
Hall saw no jails and no drunkenness, and divorce was unknown. He learned an American missionary had come there thirty years earlier. While he was in the village, he had led two elderly townspeople to Christ and left them with a Japanese Bible. These new believers studied the Scriptures and started leading their fellow villagers to Jesus. Hall's jeep driver said he was amazed at the difference between this village and the others around it. He remarked, "So this is what comes out of only a Bible and a couple of old guys who wanted to live like Jesus."
The great power of God's Word leads to salvation through faith in Christ, creating a "special people," a community of believers who love one another, exhort one another, and serve God together. We need to pray that our churches will be an example of God's power to a watching world.
--H.V.L.
The world at its worst needs the church at its best.
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JUN 13
PSALM 119:41-48
For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power
(1 Thessalonians 1:5).
First-century believers communicated the gospel verbally while it was being put into written form. In each generation since, believers have taken the truths of the Word of God with them as they moved about, proclaiming them openly in church services and whispering them in secret. Christianity has taken root and grown strong because God's Word has brought salvation and hope to people of every station in life. The written Word of the living God was given to all mankind, and its impact on our world is immeasurable.
American clergyman and author Henry van Dyke expressed the broad influence of the Book of books in this way: "Born in the East and clothed in oriental form and imagery, the Bible walks the ways of all the world with familiar feet and enters land after land to find its own everywhere. It has learned to speak in hundreds of languages to the heart of man. It comes into the palace of the monarch to tell him that he is a servant to the Most High, and into the cottage to assure the peasant that he is a child of God."
Kings and peasants have read the Bible and believed, nations have been altered, and cultures have improved because of its message. The Bible makes a difference wherever it goes, and it makes a difference in our lives when we read it, meditate upon its truth, and apply it to our lives. The Book for everyone has a special message for each of us.
--D.C.E.
The Bible, like a bank, is most helpful when it's open.
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JUN 14
PSALM 119:25-32
For the word of God is living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12).
One Sunday evening at church a short-term missionary reported on her overseas experiences and told about crossing into a communist country. At the border, the guards asked, "Do you have any guns, drugs, or Bibles?"
Although they probably hadn't read it, those communist border guards apparently believed Hebrews 4:12. To them, the Bible was as dangerous as guns and drugs. Guns injure and kill the body. Drugs alter and distort the mind. The Bible exposes and destroys falsehood. But the Bible threatens more than their religion of atheism. It threatens their place of power and control over the people because it gives to the people what no government can. The Bible enriches lives, instills hope, and frees the human spirit, which makes it as threatening to an atheistic government as guns and drugs.
In Psalm 119, the psalmist refers to some of the powerful effects of the Word of God on his life. It revives his soul (v. 25); it imparts inner strength (v. 28); it guides him into truth (v. 30); and it enlarges his heart (v. 32).
We who are blessed with both the Old and New Testaments have God's full and final written revelation of Himself. When we meditate on the truths of this powerful book, we experience its impact on our lives by the indwelling Holy Spirit, who makes it real to us.
Guns, drugs, and the Bible all wield power, but only the Bible destroys what is false and builds what is true.
--D.J.D.
No weapon in Satan's arsenal can destroy the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
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JUN 15
JOHN 15:1-7
"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3).
The Word of God has cleansing power. One of the surest ways to live a victorious Christian life is to bathe ourselves daily in the purifying principles of the Bible--by reading it, studying it, and obeying it.
A woman in a pagan area of the world became a believer and began attending Bible classes taught by the missionary who had led her to Christ. The teacher soon became discouraged because the new convert seemed to forget everything she was taught. One day the missionary remarked impatiently to the young Christian, "Sometimes I wonder what's the use trying to teach you anything. You forget it all anyway. You remind me of a strainer. Everything I pour into your mind runs right through." The student quickly responded, "I may not recall everything, but just as water passes through a strainer and makes it clean, what you have taught me from the Bible helps make me clean. I need that. That's why I keep coming back." The forgetful new Christian may not have retained all of the missionary's instruction, but as the truths of the Bible "poured through" her mind, she felt its cleansing effect.
It's important for us to be in God's Word every day--but even more important for the Word to be in us, where its purifying power can do its most effective work.
--R.W.D.
If we pore over God's Word, His cleansing power will pour through us.
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JUN 16
2 PETER 3:14-18
"The secret things belong to the Lord . . . but those things which are revealed belong to us" (Deuteronomy 29:29).
At lunch one day, W. Wilbert Welch, chancellor of the Grand Rapids Baptist College and Seminary, told a story about one of his professors, Dr. Brokenshire, a godly and gifted scholar with a thorough knowledge of Scripture. "I remember our first day in class," Welch recalled. "The professor didn't know us by name yet, so he referred to some cards in his hand. Looking up, he said, 'Mr. Green?' The student identified himself. 'Mr. Green, do you have any problems with the Bible?' 'No, sir,' replied the confident new student. Brokenshire replied, 'Then why don't you read it? You will.'"
A thoughtful reading of the Bible will raise questions. Peter said that Paul's writings contained "some things hard to understand" (2 Pe 3:16). Sometimes we see only one side of a truth, or we come across what seems like a contradiction. Then there are the bigger problems--divine election and human freedom, the origin of evil, the reason for pain and suffering. But these perplexities need not undermine our confidence in the Bible.
God wants us to study the Bible, and a questioning mind is fertile soil for learning. Some things, however, will remain a mystery, and we must humbly accept God's right to withhold knowledge from us. No matter what problems we have in understanding the Bible, we can thank Him that He has revealed sufficient truth to win our hearts, guide our steps, and bring us to heaven.
--D.J.D.
Our difficulties in understanding the Bible are not due to divine error but to human ignorance.
