GO TO THE WORD
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Psalm 119:105
Within his book, Spiritual Rhythm – Being with Jesus Every Season of Your Soul, author and pastor Mark Buchanan writes, “I have reached a point of holy impatience about this: when someone comes to me and tells me their marriage is crumbling, or their anxiety is skyrocketing, or their addiction is spiraling, or (fill in the blank), I first say, ‘Tell me what God is saying to you in His Word.” His direct question either elicits blank stares or a bunch of excuses for not reading their Bibles.
Amos writes, “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD,“ when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men [women] will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it” (Amos 8:11-12). My Bible study notes read, “Because of their apathy, God said He would take away even the opportunity to hear His word.” Because of our apathy, we neglect our opportunity to even read the Word!
Are you discouraged? Go to the Word. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4).
Do you feel isolated or weak? Go to the Word. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him . . . But David found strength in the LORD his God (1 Samuel 30:6).
Sometimes our questions are found in the Word, and His answers are clear. Should I steal? No (Deuteronomy 5:19)! Should I seek revenge? No (Leviticus 19:18)!
Sometimes our questions aren’t found in the Word, but make no mistake His answers are there! A dear friend of mine was praying through a significant decision: Should she purchase a home? She needed to let the realtor know by Monday. On Saturday as she was doing her normal daily Bible reading (she’s going through the Bible chronologically) she said to the Lord, “God, if there is anything you can encourage me with right now, I’m all ears.” She then proceeded to read Ezra chapter three as allotted on her schedule. The passage is about rebuilding the temple and the phrase “the house of the LORD” was repeated often. It talked about resistance (which she was feeling) and then came around to God making everything work out according to His plan. On Sunday, she read Haggai and put a little note in the margin by chapter 2, verse 7, “’I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty.” She bought the house and His glory is on display!
PASSION Step: Need to make a decision today? Go to the Word. Ask God, “What do You have to say about this issue?”
The study of God’s Word, for the purpose of discovering God’s will, is the secret discipline that has formed the greatest characters.
James Waddel Alexander
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