Message from Scripture: 6/11/2020

Today’s message from Scripture comes from Psa. 119:5; “If only my ways were committed to keeping your statutes.”

For those of us who have obeyed the gospel, if asked the question, “What is the Bible,” we can answer unequivocally “The inspired word of God” (2 Tim. 3:16); but this is not all that the Bible is to us. In His infinite wisdom, God has given us His word in language we can understand, using our thought patterns, the grammar and patterns inherent in literature and language, so it will be understandable, unmistakable, and undeniable, that we can be committed to keeping His statutes.

Two figures of speech the Bible employs to communicate God’s truth is that of simile and metaphor, strong comparisons, where a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another. We use these all the time, as in the phrases, “Her tears flowed like a river,” or “All the world’s a stage.” God uses these figures of speech, as well, to clarify and understand what God’s word should means to us in very practical ways.

We learn from this that Scripture is a light. “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path” (Psa. 119:105). In other words, it can lead us out of the darkness of sin into the light of truth, the right way to live. Scripture is also a fire. “But his message becomes a fire burning in my heart” (Jer. 20:9). It motivates us to speak it and live, that its power can be made effective in and through us. Scripture is also a sword. “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit — which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17). It defends the faith and pierces our hearts with its truths.

Scripture is to be many things to us. It is living and active, coming from the God who always lives, always works, always is there to use it to bring us to maturity, to salvation. What is Scripture to you? Spend time in it today, and be blessed.

Robert