Believers value God’s Word. We teach it, meditate on it, share it with others, and most of all live by it. We have found that the time we spend with God’s Word can be the most profitable time of any day. It refreshes us, challenges us, encourages and informs us. It is, in fact, God’s love letter to us. It speaks of real people with real problems who can find solutions to every crisis in life through God’s willingness to communicate with us through His Word.
I can’t begin to describe the number of times when I am reading some passage in the Bible and God begins to whisper His thoughts to me. I see answers to issues I am facing. I am reminded of truths I have neglected. I sense once more how loved I am despite my faults and weaknesses.
Scott Harrison shared an experience in “Daily Guideposts” that expresses how I feel about time with God’s Word, He wrote, “Sam was my best dog, ever. A field trial dog who found birds and pointed them with contagious enthusiasm, Sam taught me the joy of becoming part of nature. If his point said a bird was hiding in a clump of bushes, it was there. He was so much more than a bird dog, though. Often we’d share together lazy lunches in an abandoned apple orchard, and the snooze that followed.
“Late one afternoon, Sam and I became separated. Neither of us was familiar with the area. I called and whistled. No sign of Sam. I had to get back to town for an important appointment. But how could I leave Sam? If he finally came back and I wasn’t there, would I lose him for good? Then I remembered a trick an old dog trainer had passed on. I unbuttoned my jacket, removed my shirt and laid it on the ground under the branches of a small bush.
“I worried all night. But when I returned the next morning there was Sam curled up with his nose under the sleeve of my shirt. He looked up and wagged his tail. ‘Where’ve you been friend?’ his eyes seemed to say. ‘I’ve been waiting for you all night. But I knew you’d come back.’ Later I wondered. When I get lost, do I have the trust to look for some part of God’s word and curl up in it? To wait patiently, knowing that my Friend will find me if I just have faith in him?”
I love that thought. We can curl up with God’s Word and He will meet us there.
When I want to give up His Word encourages me to persevere. When I am discouraged, His Word gives me courage. When my faith falters, His Word helps me believe again. When I feel inadequate, His Word tells me of His great power at work in me. When I am broken, His Word repairs me. When I don’t know what to do “by your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path” (Psalm 119:105, MSG).
