Read, Hear, and Heed the Word!
Reading: Revelation 1
My Verse: "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and keep what is written in it, for the time is near" (1:3).
Here is the first of the seven blessings of Revelation You bestow upon us, Lord God. That You would make this one the first places a special importance on it - on the reading, hearing and heeding of Your Word!
Even though so few people today read Your Word, Lord God, it is still the very basis of our society. C.S. Lewis makes this so very clear in his book Mere Christianity. "These, then are the two facts I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in."
Proverbs 29:18 says. "Where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law." Without Your Word people "cast off restraint." I read that this same verb was used when Moses came down from the mountain to find his people dancing and worshiping a golden calf. They grew weary of waiting, put You aside and basically went wild. You give us so many examples of societies that do this - put You out of their lives and become basically dysfunctional as a society. Sodom and Gomorrah are one sad example.
Any society, culture that cuts You out becomes dysfunctional. They become dark. The people have no restraints on how they behave and slowly become more and more out of control. I like how one person said it, "When we begin to ignore the word of God we move very quickly into absurdities." But You, Lord God, are there waiting and wanting to bless us!
"He who deals wisely and heeds [God's] Word and counsel shall find good, and whoever leans on, trusts in, and is confident in the Lord - happy, blessed, and fortunate is he" (Proverbs 16:20).
I thank You, Lord God, for Your Word. I am so blessed to have such free access to it. Sadly there is coming a day when this will not be so.
"Behold the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord. And [the people] shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it" Amos (11-12). What a dreadful thing!
Today I simply rejoice in Your Word!
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
Reading: Revelation 1
My Verse: "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and keep what is written in it, for the time is near" (1:3).
Here is the first of the seven blessings of Revelation You bestow upon us, Lord God. That You would make this one the first places a special importance on it - on the reading, hearing and heeding of Your Word!
Even though so few people today read Your Word, Lord God, it is still the very basis of our society. C.S. Lewis makes this so very clear in his book Mere Christianity. "These, then are the two facts I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in."
Proverbs 29:18 says. "Where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law." Without Your Word people "cast off restraint." I read that this same verb was used when Moses came down from the mountain to find his people dancing and worshiping a golden calf. They grew weary of waiting, put You aside and basically went wild. You give us so many examples of societies that do this - put You out of their lives and become basically dysfunctional as a society. Sodom and Gomorrah are one sad example.
Any society, culture that cuts You out becomes dysfunctional. They become dark. The people have no restraints on how they behave and slowly become more and more out of control. I like how one person said it, "When we begin to ignore the word of God we move very quickly into absurdities." But You, Lord God, are there waiting and wanting to bless us!
"He who deals wisely and heeds [God's] Word and counsel shall find good, and whoever leans on, trusts in, and is confident in the Lord - happy, blessed, and fortunate is he" (Proverbs 16:20).
I thank You, Lord God, for Your Word. I am so blessed to have such free access to it. Sadly there is coming a day when this will not be so.
"Behold the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord. And [the people] shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it" Amos (11-12). What a dreadful thing!
Today I simply rejoice in Your Word!
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
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