Time with Jesus - Monday, 19 March
2012
Hi all,
Psalm
119 is awesome. It’s a wisdom psalm. It’s an acrostic of praise about God’s
Word. An acrostic is very difficult to write. In English we would have 26
lines. Each successive line begins with the next letter of our alphabet. It’s a
daunting task. Now Psalm 119 has 176 lines. It is divided up into 22 parts.
Each part begins with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Thus we have
eight lines beginning with the letter “Aleph”. This is followed by eight lines
beginning with the letter “Beth”. Thus they use the entire Hebrew alphabet. The
NIV indicates this by using the phonetic for each successive Hebrew letter. We
have to bear in mind that Hebrew poetry is unlike traditional English poetry.
We talk about rhyme and metre. Hebrew poetry is different. There is
insufficient space to elaborate on this. Even so, this psalm is a masterpiece.
What
is important here is Psalm 119’s focus on God’s Word. Reading it gives the
impression that the accuracy and reliability of God’s Word is paramount. As
Christians we need to have the same attitude toward the Bible. Liberal Scholars
tend to approach the Bible with a pair of scissors. They cut out everything
that doesn’t appeal to their reason. It seems that they regard the rational
mind is greater than God’s Word!
One
of the questions we are often asked is how do we know that the Bible is God’s
Word? It’s a fair question. How do we answer it? We can’t call God to the bar
of human logic. It has been written and we are not compelled to accept it as
God’s Word. What we can do is test it for veracity. This has been done by many
scholars. It hasn’t failed the test.
I’m
reminded of a story told by Dr Ken Stewart when I was in Bible School 30 years
ago. He stated that he went to seminary to prove God’s Word was true. To his
amazement he shared a room with a man who had gone to seminary to prove that
God’s Word was not true. He added that neither of them succeeded. Then Dr Ken
decided he would accept it as true. That’s when it started working for him.
In
my early days as I Christian I was faced with the same problem. Was the Bible
really God’s Word? Like Dr Ken, I was unable to prove it. Then, when I started
to believe it, everything fell into place. That’s when I realised that God
isn’t impressed with unbelief. He has no need to prove Himself. The epistle to
the Hebrews makes the very clear. 6 It's
impossible to please God apart from faith. And
why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists
and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him. Heb 11:6 MSG When I started to believe that the
Bible is God’s Word, veracity was no longer an issue.
Now,
when I’m being challenged on this issue or and other faith issue, I have a
standard reply. “I believe”. No man or woman can gainsay it. No matter what
they say, my reply is “I believe”. “But you’re an arrogant, dogmatic, fundamentalist,
idiot!” “I believe!” No apology is necessary. “I believe”, is all we need!”
Today’s
meditation is on God’s Word. What it means to me and what this belief has done
for me.
Blessings
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
Utterly Dependable
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Veracity; veracity
is what we truly need!
Without it,
can we ever tell if on it we can feed?
It has to be
dependable! The Word of God - No less!
For
everything that comes from man, will curse and never bless!
So how can
we be certain the Bible is God’s Word?
It has to be
consistent and all of it occurred,
At some time
in our history that we can verify.
If it’s a
“fairy story”, it’s no more than a lie.
It has to be
consistent and it’s inerrancy,
Confirmed in
every aspect, throughout all history.
In cannot be
just guesswork; it must be guaranteed!
It has to be
reliable in each and every deed.
It must
include a future that only God could know.
It must
describe each incident correctly, blow by blow.
It must
contain correction; so we need not go wrong.
It has to
bring encouragement, to help us to be strong.
It must
speak of the places we can identify.
It has to
bring us laughter. It aught to make us cry.
We have to
know for certain that all who wrote it down,
Were not
some raving lunatics or some celestial clown!
It has to
bring us comfort; it has to bring us hope!
It has to
show it’s possible that somehow we can cope.
It has to
touch our spirit, our body and our mind.
It has to
give us guidance and never leave us blind.
We have to
know that others have found these qualities;
And that we
can be like them. We can’t complain at these!
It has to
show relationships within this world of men,
Can also be
repeated. Not only now and then,
But with a
certain confidence that if in Him we trust,
We will not
be discarded or thrown outside to rust.
It must have
all these qualities and many, many more.
It must
reveal a Saviour Whom people can adore.
It has to
give us confidence that right up to the end,
We have a God
on whom we can forevermore depend.
My brothers
and my sisters, for over fifty years,
God’s Holy
Word, the Bible, has brought me joy and tears!
I’ve found
that it’s dependable far more than I can say.
Not once, but
through the many years, right up until today!
It’s been
the central bastion of all I’ve sought to do.
And every
single word of it’s proved absolutely true.
No longer
can I doubt it. For Christ has done for me,
Far more
than I can think about, or estimate, or see.
Jim Strickland
Written Monday 19th March 2012
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