RESPECT FOR THE WORD
Last Sunday morning one of my students forgot his Bible. This is a common occurrence with children. I try to emphasize to my students the importance of having their Bible in class, but they still often forget.
As I was trying to encourage them to make it a habit, something occurred to me. Though we have extra Bibles in our room, there is something about using the same Bible all the time. I showed them my Bible, the notes I have made in it, and how important it has become to me. I truly love my Bible, and though many people have started using digital copies of God’s Word, I still like having my Bible. The way I feel about my Bible is somewhat the way David, the young shepherd boy, felt about King Saul’s armor. It didn’t fit him, and he hadn’t tested it. Bibles with which I am unfamiliar don’t feel as comfortable to me as my own. I find things much more easily in the Bible I use all the time.
I thought about this discussion during the day, and it started me on a path of thinking about what God expects concerning His law. I’m not talking about one particular Bible over another. I mean what is printed in Bibles, whether they are physical books or digital copies.
In our congregation, we have a Bible reading at every service. When someone reads the Word, the congregation stands. I have never seen this done in any other congregation we have attended. It is a special time when we stand out of respect for God’s Word.
Have you ever thrown away a Bible? I doubt you have. For some reason we can’t just throw a Bible in the trash, no matter how tattered it may be. But do we have the same respect for the contents, or do we throw God’s commandments aside like we would a worn-out book? Do we even bother to read from Scripture daily?
When young King Josiah became king of Judah, he began some repairs on the temple. Shaphan, the scribe, was given a book found in the temple. He brought the book to the king, and read it to him. It was the book of the law. Josiah recognized what Shaphan was reading, and he tore his clothes. He called together a group of men to go inquire of the Lord through a prophet concerning what had been found. The Lord was angry with the people because they had not obeyed the law.
God’s message was clear. The people have forsaken Him. They had burned incense to other gods. He recognized Josiah’s tender heart, evidenced by his tearing his clothes and weeping, signs of true sorrow and repentance.
Josiah gathered all the people, and he read the book. That would have been an incredible experience to hear God’s Word for the first time. It would have been a moving experience to hear Josiah make a covenant with God that they would keep His commandments and perform what was written. In Second Kings 22 and 23 and in Second Chronicles 34 and 35, you can read the things Josiah did to make the changes he needed to make. He took all the idols out of the temple, killed the idolatrous priests, and restored the celebration of the Passover. Too bad the people didn’t continue with the changes Josiah made.
The people of Israel went through a similar experience in Nehemiah 8. Ezra, the priest, brought the book of the law and stood before the people. When he began to read, the people stood up. Can’t you just imagine thousands of people standing as the Word is read? The people responded by falling on their faces and worshipping the Lord. They wept as Ezra read the commandments. Nehemiah says they read for one-fourth of the day, and they confessed their sins and worshipped for one-fourth of their day.
Honor to the written Word is not limited to the Old Testament. Paul told Timothy to study to show himself approved of God (Second Timothy 2:15). He also told Timothy to preach the word. The word he was to preach would reprove, rebuke, and exhort.
We need to hear the Word read in our worship services. We need to read the Word daily. Reading, however, is not enough. We need to study it, memorize it, and put it into practice in our daily lives. We need to let God’s Word be the guide for all the decisions we make, our speech, our actions, our thoughts, our lives. We need to read what God says in His Word and then weep and confess our sins like Josiah and the people of Judah. God could then say to us as He did to Josiah, “because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD” (Second Kings 22:19 ESV).
Sandra Oliver