“You pushed me violently, that I might fall, But the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” (Psalm 118:13–14, NKJV)
The Fighter Verse of the week. See their website and commentary here: http://fighterverses.com/set-4-core-esv/week-48/
1 Thanks to God for my Redeemer,
Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a mem’ry,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,
Thanks for dark and stormy fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul!
2 Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!
3 Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks through all eternity!
We have seen how reading is important in the Christian life. God used words to create. He gave us His written word for the purpose of instruction in how to live. He required it of the Old Testament people and the New Testament Christians also saw the importance of reading. God expects us to spend time meditating on His word and in order to do that we need to know how to read and how to focus long enough to think about what we’ve read.
God lifts up His Word above all other forms of communication. Peter, who was present at the transfiguration of Christ, describes this event in 2 Peter 1:19-21. Even though this was a grand event, he explains that there is a more sure word. More sure than an emotionally charged experience of the glory of God? And what is that more sure word? He goes on to tell us that it is Scripture. Scripture is a more sure word than any experience we may have whether it is a real physical experience as it was in Peter’s case or an emotional or spiritually charged vision of some sort. The Word is more sure than all of that and should be given the priority when we are trying to determine what God would have us know or do.
The Psalmist in Psalm 138:2 tells us that God has magnified His Word above His name. We know that the Name of God is great and sacred. We are not to take His name in vain and yet God Himself has elevated His Word above His name.
If these things are so, then we must be sure that we understand and practice the importance of reading ourselves, in our families and in our churches. Children must be taught the skill of reading and it must be actively encouraged. There must be undistracted time allocated for this practice. As parents we must set the example.
In the next few posts we will go over some of the challenges to the word and reading that we face in our modern world. We will also look at some steps we can take to mitigate those hindrances and challenges.
Meditation is an essential aspect of the Christian life and is based on reading. Meditation is the chewing over of Scripture in our minds, focusing on it, thinking about what it means in context and to ourselves. It involves looking at it from multiple angles and reflecting on it repeatedly so that it’s truth can impact our souls.
Success and prosperity (in the spiritual sense) is promised for consistent meditation. See Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2 as examples of this. In the Psalms passage the person who meditates on Scripture is described as a living, fruitful tree growing next to a stream of water, whereas the rest are described as dry chaff which the wind blows away.
The Psalmist tells us that meditation improves understanding. (Ps 49:3)
David meditated continually on the commands and statutes of God. (Psalm 119:15, 23, 27, 38, 78, 97, 99, 148)
Timothy was urged to meditate on certain truths and give himself completely to them. (I Timothy 4:15)
Paul told the Philippians to meditate on things that are true, lovely, noble, etc. in Philippians 4:8.
Finally, God is writing a book of remembrance of those who meditate on His Name. (Mal 3:16). That’s kind of amazing to think about the fact that God is actually creating a memory book filled with the names of people who meditate on Him. Wow!
Why is reading important? Because meditating is important and it is hard to conceive of meditating on the Word of God if we can’t read it. How are you doing in the area of biblical meditation?
The Bible teaches us that the word of God is spiritually discerned. I Corinthians 2:13-14 tell us that the natural man (that is the man who is not born again) does not receive the things of the Spirit. They are foolish to him because they are spiritually discerned. The Bible is one of those things that is spiritually discerned.
In 2 Corinthians 3:15 we are told that every time Moses was read to the people, they were not able to understand it because Satan had put a veil over their heart to keep them from understanding the truth. Only when a person comes to Christ is that veil taken away and the Word can be understood.
2 Corinthians 3:15 tells us that it take the illumination of God to bring understanding just as it took the word of God to create light in the first place.
So here is an interesting question. Can someone who cannot read and understand the natural meaning of the text of Scripture still have the illumination of the Spirit to understand the word. Let’s take an extreme. If you had a Bible in front of you in a language that you did not speak or read, would the Holy Spirit still open up the spiritual meaning to you as you sounded out the words? Let’s say I gave you a German Bible and you don’t understand German. As you pronounce the words to the best of your ability will the Holy Spirit give you the understanding you need?
I maintain that the answer to that question is “no”. It’s my opinion that it takes a natural understanding of the text first in order to be illuminated by the Spirit for the spiritual understanding to occur. This is why Christians over the years have worked very hard and spent millions of dollars to make the Scriptures available to people in their native languages.
My point in bringing this up is that we need to do all we can for ourselves and our children to make sure that we learn to read to the best of our ability. There are many practical ways in which reading is being diminished in our video culture and we must make sure that our children and our families are able to read well so that they can understand what God is saying through His Word.
The passages I have alluded to in the last couple of posts come from the Old Testament. What about the New Testament?
In the book of Matthew, Jesus says at least 6 times, “Have you not read…” He expects that his listeners would have read the Bible and know what it said. How else would they know what God was saying to them?
In the early church, Phillip went out to the desert and came upon an Ethiopian who was reading the Old Testament. Phillip’s first words to him were, “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30) If you go back and look kat the situation in Nehemiah 8 you will find that there is great emphasis on the fact that people were to gain an understanding of what was being read. There is no point in reading if one does not understand the meaning of the text. This point seems obvious, but is up for debate these days among the post-modernists. More on that in a future post.
In Ephesians 3:4 Paul tells the church that when they read, they will understand the mystery of what God was doing through the Gospel. When Paul sent letters to Colossae and Thessalonica he asked that those letters be read in all the churches. (Colossians 4:17; I Thess 5:27)
When Paul wrote to Timothy he admonished him to give attention to reading. (I Timothy 4:13)
In Revelation 1:3 John says that there is a blessing on those who read that book.
Finally, Paul, when writing to Timothy asks him to bring his scrolls and parchments. (@ Timothy 4:13)
As we can see from these New Testament passages, reading played a central role in the understanding of the early Christians. God had given His word and great was the company of those that published it.
How are you doing on your reading of Scripture? Is it a consistent practice in your life? How about in your church? Is the Scripture read in the hearing of the people so that they will know what God has said?
Last time we looked at the expectation that the Israelites would gather together for the reading of the law in their hearing. Today we look at an example of that recorded in Nehemiah 8.
It would probably be best if you read the narrative yourself, but here are the highlights.
The people gathered together in the open square and Ezra the priest brought the Law to be read to them. The assembly consisted of men, women and all who could hear with understanding. The people stood for this reading. We are told that all of the people were attentive to the Book of the Law as it was read to them.
Ezra stood on a platform along with several of the leaders of Israel. The book was read distinctly and the sense of it was explained to the people in order to help them understand the reading. This reading took place from morning until midday. We don’t know what time that would be in our terms, but I would think at least 9 until noon. Perhaps 8 until 2 or something like that.
On another day a similar session was held which lasted for one fourth of the day. On another fourth of the day they confessed and worshiped the Lord.
We can see from these examples that reading was extremely important in the life of the Old Testament Jewish people. God expected that His Word would be read and since they did not all have a copy of their own, it was read publicly to them and they were expected to stand and listen to it.
My first thought is, “How did they have the attention span to do this?” Most of us here in our culture would have a difficult time listening for that length of time with no musical or video going on in the background. Later on in this series I’m going to discuss the issue of attention and the distractions that prevent us from attending to anything for a length of time
It might be a worthwhile exercise for us as men who desire to be faithful to God to think through how attentive we are to God’s Word and what kind of place it has in our lives and minds. Are we losing the ability to read and concentrate on the Word for any appreciable length of time?
John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
The Fighter Verse of the week. See their website and commentary here: http://fighterverses.com/set-4-core-esv/week-47/
Scripture memorization is an important key to maturing in the faith. It is also an essential ingredient for meditation on the Scriptures since it allows us to have God’s Word readily available in our minds for mulling over while we are driving or doing other things where we can’t have an open Bible in front of us.
One of the best resources for Scripture memorization in this technological age is the Fighter Verses Program developed in conjunction with Desiring God Ministries. They provide apps for both iPhone and Android platforms.
There is a basic 5 year program with one verse a week for five years. Each week, you are notified through your app that a new verse is ready for the coming week. Here is their description of this program:
The Fighter Verses focus on 1) the character and worth of our great God, 2) battling against our fleshly desires, and 3) the hope of the Gospel. This five-year memory program is a revision of the original program (now called the Legacy Set), and includes many verses from the original set as well as many new verses.
Their extended program features longer passages still in a 5 year format. Here is their description:
The Extended Memory Set is designed for those who wish to memorize longer passages of Scripture. Still structured as a five-year program, this set will walk you through memorizing Philippians, James, Romans 5-8, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and one year of larger passages from various books of the Bible that are considered key to the life of faith.
If you would like to get started in this program, here is the link: http://fighterverses.com
Here is a link to my website where I provide some other memory programs that are available. http://www.faithful-men.org/p/resources-memorization.html
Spirit of God, Descend Upon my Heart by George Croly
1. Spirit of God, descend upon my heart; wean it from earth; through all its pulses move; stoop to my weakness, mighty as thou art, and make me love thee as I ought to love. 2. I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies, no sudden rending of the veil of clay, no angel visitant, no opening skies; but take the dimness of my soul away. 3. Has thou not bid me love thee, God and King? All, all thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind. I see thy cross; there teach my heart to cling. O let me seek thee, and O let me find. 4. Teach me to feel that thou art always nigh; teach me the struggles of the soul to bear. To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh, teach me the patience of unanswered prayer. 5. Teach me to love thee as thine angels love, one holy passion filling all my frame; the kindling of the heaven-descended Dove, my heart an altar, and thy love the flame.