The B-I-B-L-E

This week I will finish this year’s first reading of the Bible. Another translation awaits my next journey through history, biography, wisdom, poetry, love story, fetes of strength and authority, counsel in ethical living and apocalypse. The story of Jesus is new and more compelling with each reading. From the first pages pregnant with awe-inspiring reports of creative power and human rebellion, to the majestic anthems of the Revelation, the Eternal Word is rich and life-giving.

I fell asleep and awoke to the same tune, the same Sunday School chorus. If you know it, sing it with me today!
The B-I-B-L-E,
Yes that's the book for me,
I stand alone on the Word of God,
The B-I-B-L-E.

The B-I-B-L-E,
Yes that's the book for me,
I read and pray, trust and obey,
The B-I-B-L-E.

In Sunday School we learned about the improbable winners of epic contests. David slew Goliath, Samson brought down Israel’s nemesis in a final exhibition of blind power, Gideon and his band of 300 over-matched comrades routed the mighty Midianites in an unforgettable manner. Who wouldn’t be awed by Joshua calling for the sun to stand still in the sky?

Our junior boy’s Sunday School teacher wasn’t a particularly gifted teacher. Our teacher even cried on occasion because we were less than attentive and laughed loudly when the paper figures tentatively clinging to the flannel landscape scene would blow to the floor with a tiny wisp of breeze coming through the open basement window. One had to be there to see a paper Jesus poised and announcing, "Peace, be still!" to the storming sea, and then fall to the floor by the unplanned breeze. But, I am still telling the stories learned more than 60 years ago! Praying, Spirit-filled teachers loved us and God’s Word and became a formidable spiritual force in boys becoming men. On Saturday evenings Dad opened the Sunday School quarterly and reviewed the next day’s lesson. The Bible, God’s Word, is the core of all faith and influences all behavior.

My mother opened the Bible nearly every morning before we left for school. The Psalmists’ poetry became part of the data base from which we have drawn inspiration and counsel through the decades. The folly of fools, like Esau who cheated himself out of the best of life because he could not control his appetite, has influenced decision making for many years.

The Spirit-inspired desire to be present and participate when the thousands of thousands sing before the throne is a constraint which confronts wilfulness and arrogance which disqualify one from experiencing the best of all concerts! Listen carefully. You may hear the rehearsals in the distance. The lyrics are printed in Revelation 5:9-13.
And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!"
Don’t you get excited about what lies ahead for those who know Jesus and await His coming?

Come on, now! Let’s sing!
The B-I-B-L-E,
Yes that's the book for me,
I stand alone on the Word of God,
The B-I-B-L-E.

The B-I-B-L-E,
Yes that's the book for me,
I read and pray, trust and obey,
The B-I-B-L-E.