Today's readings are Nehemiah 7.1-4, 8.1-18 and 1 Timothy 5.1-16.
When the public reading of Scripture is reinstated in Jerusalem the people are struck by the power and grace shown in God's word. They commit themselves joyfully to keeping that festival the Lord has commanded.
What is our attitude toward God's Word? Do we expect our Lord to speak to us when we open the Bible? Do we have gatherings for reading the Scripture and then settle for only a little Bible and a lot of us? Do we think the Bible is kind of irrelevant unless we do something to make it "more meaningful" or spend our time emphasizing how it applies to us personally as opposed to what the objective meaning of the text itself is? Do we go out of our way to subjectivize or allegorize the Scripture because we can't believe God would actually work in the Word as he says he does?
May the Lord give us the same spirit the hungry saints had in Jerusalem in our reading today. May he give us ears to listen attentively and eagerly to what he would tell us. May he give us faith to believe his promises and to trust that he actually works in the ways he has said he does. In short, may our Lord make us trust in what he has revealed to us. Yes, he will fill his word with his meaning. Because the Scripture comes from God himself it is eternally relevant. Because it is God's revelation of his working in history and in people we can trust that our Lord will continue to work in his people and be the same kind of God he has always shown himself to be.
When the public reading of Scripture is reinstated in Jerusalem the people are struck by the power and grace shown in God's word. They commit themselves joyfully to keeping that festival the Lord has commanded.
What is our attitude toward God's Word? Do we expect our Lord to speak to us when we open the Bible? Do we have gatherings for reading the Scripture and then settle for only a little Bible and a lot of us? Do we think the Bible is kind of irrelevant unless we do something to make it "more meaningful" or spend our time emphasizing how it applies to us personally as opposed to what the objective meaning of the text itself is? Do we go out of our way to subjectivize or allegorize the Scripture because we can't believe God would actually work in the Word as he says he does?
May the Lord give us the same spirit the hungry saints had in Jerusalem in our reading today. May he give us ears to listen attentively and eagerly to what he would tell us. May he give us faith to believe his promises and to trust that he actually works in the ways he has said he does. In short, may our Lord make us trust in what he has revealed to us. Yes, he will fill his word with his meaning. Because the Scripture comes from God himself it is eternally relevant. Because it is God's revelation of his working in history and in people we can trust that our Lord will continue to work in his people and be the same kind of God he has always shown himself to be.
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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com
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