Bud and flourish.
We are at a point in our church’s Bible Reading Challenge where it might be valuable to be refreshed in the process and benefit of reading the Very Words of God - the Bible.
So let’s remind ourselves of a few benefits from reading God’s own thoughts for His children:
The Power of Salvation.
Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…”
His Word reads us and helps us to understand ourselves.
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
He is God and His care for us is perfect.
Psalm 95:6-7 (English Standard Version) “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”
We get insight into the thoughts of God.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
We reap a benefit from the Words of God being planted in us.
Isaiah 55:10-11 “As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
And there is plenty more we could explore.
One last point that I would like to pass onto you relates to a great scientist by the name of George Washington Carver. You may have learned about him as a child in science class. I still remember a grade school assignment to read a biography about George Washington Carver. It was fascinating to discover that he made amazing inroads into the peanut and its uses.
He developed over three hundred uses for the peanut, including things like paste, insulation, paper, wall board, wood stains, soap, shaving cream and skin lotion. On one occasion, someone asked him where he found the insight to uncover so many valuable products from the peanut. He replied, “they came from one book.”
“Which one?” the questioner pressed.
George Washington Carver said it was the Bible. “Without God to turn and open the curtain I would be helpless.” His time reading the Bible and in prayer to God about his work gave him the wisdom and insight necessary to discover so many wonderful uses of the peanut.
What is it that God might be preparing for you as you read His Word? Is it the wisdom to know how to deal ethically with fellow workers in your profession? Maybe you need special wisdom for how to manage the tight finances for a corporation or a non-profit. God has such wisdom available.
One businessman in his eighties was sitting in on a board meeting and everyone in the room turned to him for some advice on a sticky situation they were trying to maneuver through. The Seattle businessman heard all the insight and offered a brilliant and beneficial response. One person after the meeting asked him where he got that kind of insight.
His response: one book - the Bible. That 80 year-old successful businessman read one chapter of the book of Proverbs every day and God planted practical wisdom for life, for finances, for relationships, for business, for dealing with the problems of the world . . . all planted in him through the Word of God.
Wherever you are at in the Bible Reading Challenge, let’s keep moving forward and take up a verse a day, chapter a day, two chapters a day. Let’s put God’s Word squarely on our hearts so that He can accomplish in us peace, salvation, gospel confidence, wisdom in our relationships, stealth in our economy, and prosperity in what He has called us to do.
Blessings to you as you pursue His Words this week!