The Bible

I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples;

I will sing to You among the nations.

Psalm 57:10

The Bible is amazing! As I read this book and learn the truth from it's pages I am overwhelmed with wonder. Lately I have sometimes felt like a little child who is eager for a cookie from the cookie jar. Yesterday I was reading Ezra and I thought that I was going to only read for about 4 chapters, but suddenly I found myself nearing the end of chapter 6. Just right now as I was looking back to that passage I laughed at myself because I was eagerly flipping through the pages of my Bible without even realizing so at first. The realization that this Bible is indeed the very Word of GOD is finally sinking into my stubborn brain. I have always known this to be true and even, at times, understood it in some small way, but to live this knowledge and understanding out is remarkably different.

My greatest regret, as of now, is that I did not pay more attention to the Bible when I was younger nor devote myself to reading from it day by day. Tasting of the small part that I am now beginning to unravel from God's Book, I wish that I had not tried living my own life apart from the Bible. I feel terrible loss in that I have not been seeking out the truth from God's Word as I know I should have. What makes my angry at myself is this: that I knew all along the power of the Word, but stubbornly resisted claiming that power which was literally right at my fingertips. My only thought of what has kept me from actively reading from the Bible is that my own sin that I held on to kept me out of good fellowship with God. This smeared my vision of God's pure, clear, and holy Word. Sin only brings death.

In my time here at NTBI I have felt like all my sins are being brought to the surface. I am noticing almost every single thing that I am doing wrong that I used to do almost without any second thoughts about it. It seems to me that when I am examining and berating myself for not sharing the gospel with the checkout lady at Wal-Mart, I am not even thinking about committing any other sin. I know that I sin all the time and it has only been in my time here that I have actually been looking at every action I take and then holding it up against what I know God would have me do. I do not believe that it is the environment here; though it is indeed an excellent environment to learn from the Bible. I believe it is simpler than that. I believe that God has been working in my heart as I have been steadily soaking up the truth from His Word. One of my roommates who is an older student shared how gold that is refined first brings up all the dross to the surface of the melting gold. Right now I am only seeing the dross and all the things that God is purifying out of me. But God is looking at me and saying, "Dave, I know that you've done a lot of bad things and I know that you are finally seeing the great multitude of your sins, but right now I'm seeing that pure gold that is right under the surface of all that dross. I'm seeing you as a man who's been clothed in righteousness and you are completely accepted by Me."

Let's cover my life story in a nutshell.

• I was dead in my sin with no hope.
• Jesus died so that I would not have to die.
• I had faith in this and was bought back by God to be in His family.
• I have now been 'declared righteous' and one day I will be 'made righteous.'
• The sin nature is still a part of me, but I no longer have to be a slave to it.
• When I choose to sin rather than walk with God I can ask forgiveness and my fellowship with God will be right again.
• The Bible is what gives me the power to defeat sin in my life and live for God.

Now that I am finally craving the Bread of Life, I feel compelled to share what I know of God with others. This is overwhelmingly difficult for me, but I know that it really shouldn't be. I should have an astounding joy for the Gospel and eagerly tell others about it. This is my desire: to realize my total inadequacy in all things and God's complete authority over all things. God has told me to share His story with those who have not heard. I should do it, but why haven't I? Satan wants to keep the Christian from doing three things: reading the Bible so that it is understood, praying in such a way that God is the focus, and sharing the Gospel with the lost. I earnestly believe that I can share the Gospel in confidence, because the Bible tells me I can. I could keep on going on forever about the Bible, but I will choose to limit myself to these words already here. Go read from the Bible and let it amaze you again and again.