How many times in life have you heard phrases and believed them to be found in God’s Word? “This too shall pass,” is a phrase I have heard many times, and out of curiosity decided to research phrases which we think come from Scripture, but are nowhere to be found. “This too shall pass” is a phrase many quote when life brings death, tragedies and difficulties. In principle we could use the line, for anything that befalls us in this temporal life is fleeting. But the actual phrase is not found.
We come to another I have heard which is misquoted many times, as I am sure you have. “Money is the root of all evil,” and though money used in the wrong way can be evil, the phrase said correctly from God’s Word is, “The LOVE of money is the root of all evil.” I Timothy 6:10
Many have heard the verse and assumed it was money itself which is evil. The phrase takes on an entirely new meaning when quoted correctly.
“The Lord works in mysterious ways.” Nowhere in Scripture is the phrase mentioned. This phrase comes from a hymn written by William Cowper in the 19th century and says, “God moves in mysterious ways; His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.” God’s Word points to the idea in Romans 11:33: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God? how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!”
“The Three Wise Men” – God’s word never mentions how many wise men there were. It is assumed to be three because of the three gifts, but nowhere in Scripture is recorded how many wise men there were, nor their names. I have heard various stories about the “wise men’s names” but they are not revealed in Scripture. Our final Authority is in Scripture and not in man’s “think so.”
“But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.” II Kings 5:11
“Just thought a thought but the thought I thought wasn’t the thought I thought I thought.” ~ Unknown
Eileen Light