the Bible

The Powerful Voice

Frank

In Glynn Young’s generous introduction to the folks involved in our weekly book discussion (yes, I’ve been away that long), he points to my short bio on Blogger that mentions I’m a comic book nerd. To stay true to form, I’m going to use a comic book reference to introduce this week’s discussion on God’s Voice.

In the Marvel Universe (Marvel Comics publishes Spider-Man, X-Men, and the blockbuster Avengers) one of the most powerful characters is the Inhuman named Black Bolt. His “power” is that his voice creates shockwaves that can level a city. It is so powerful that he undergoes strict meditation to ensure that he not only doesn’t speak, but that he makes no audible sound whatsoever. I was always fascinated by this character because he was so mysterious while also being feared by the other heroes for being so powerful.

The Bible talks about how powerful our voice can be. While we cannot literally cause physical damage with our words, we can do significant harm emotionally and psychologically. We cannot speak things into existence like God at creation, but we can bark orders to build massive structures and machines. “Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.” (Proverbs 11:11) And this is inherent in our nature, being created in God’s image. “God is not silent, has never been silent. It is the nature of God to speak,” writes A.W. Tozer in the sixth chapter of the Pursuit of God, ‘The Speaking Voice’. (pg 59)

And like the comic book character, God’s voice is powerful- enough so to speak the world into existence. His voice is so powerful that he is even present in a whisper. In 1 Kings 19 we read about Elijah fleeing and seeking comfort from God. Here we read about God appearing not as a great, thunderous storm, but rather as a gentle whisper.

I said above “we read”. I even said it twice. Personally, I am always looking for that booming voice from heaven; so much so that my ears are often deaf to the whisper that God is speaking through his Word.

I know that God speaks through his Word. It is an accepted fact that I too easily take for granted. Yet I know from personal experience that sometimes the whispers that are easy to ignore become shouts that demand response. I have been going to church all my life, but one Sunday while in college the Scriptures spoke to me as they never had before, sending me on a journey I am continuing to this day. Do I hear that same voice, at the same volume, every time I open the Bible? I only wish this was so! But I will never hear God’s voice if I don’t even open my Bible to listen.

“The Bible is the written word of God, and because it is written it is confined and limited by the necessities of ink and paper and leather. The Voice of God, however, is alive and free as the sovereign God is free…

God did not write a book and send it by messenger to be read at a distance by unaided minds. He spoke a Book and lives in his spoken words, constantly speaking His words and causing the power of them to persist across the years.” (Tozer, pgs 53-54)

“The word of God is living and active…”
(Hebrews 4:12)


God is ever-speaking through his word. Sometimes we hear it, sometimes we don’t. Regardless, God’s voice is powerful enough to change the world with just a whisper.

This blog is part of a book club reading The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. Please join the discussion here and at our hosts, Jason Stasyszen and Sarah Salter. Need a copy of the book? You can get it for free on Kindle.

Hunger Games

Frank

Every wandering eye, every unfaithful thought starts from the same place. Hunger. Emotional and physical needs aren’t being met. “Love cups” or “love tanks” aren’t filled and a person is left feeling empty and in need.

An affair never starts with the intent of being unfaithful. It starts when someone else, a stranger, a coworker, meets a need that isn’t being met at home. Maybe it’s listening and relating. Maybe it’s paying a long-needed compliment. Maybe it’s the physical attraction that goes along with a little flirt. However minor that first step towards cheating may seem, it still ends in the same place.

And it all starts from being hungry.

Throughout the Bible, God relates the unfaithfulness of His people to adultery, giving the image of His relationship to the Israelites as equivalent to that of a man and wife. The New Testament goes further and calls the Church Jesus’ bride. And so the temptations above, made strong by hunger are the same.

We hunger because we think our Lord and Savior cannot satisfy. We don’t believe His promises. We don’t count on Him when times are bad. And so we stop believing that He completely satisfies and we fool ourselves into being hungry for something else.

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things
(Psalm 107:8-9)

And we can be unfaithful to our churches for the same reason. Sometimes we hunger because we are not being fed. How long have you been nursing on milk, when you should be eating solid food by now? (Hebrews 5:11-13) And so churches around us are wasting away, starving to death, because no one is being fed.

It is then, in these times, when the pangs of hunger are so overwhelming that any little morsel resembling truth suckers us into consuming whole meals of false teaching. Paul instructs the church in Ephesus how to grow and mature through solid teaching, so that “we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” (Ephesians 4:14)

It’s all hunger games. We allow ourselves to wither and starve when we don’t feed on God’s Word, when we are not trusting in Him.

[H]is delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
(Psalm 1:2-3)
[B]lessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.
(Jeremiah 17:7-8)

You don’t have to starve when you have nourishment right at your fingertips, when you have a loving God who longs for you to be satisfied. Don’t go hungry and fall into the temptation of another. Another lover, another church, or another God.

Resolutions: Eating Right

Frank

After taking a break for the holidays I’m back with a series of posts on resolutions to start the new year. Please feel free to comment and share your own resolutions for 2012. Next week, I’ll get back on the saddle for my study of the book Not a Fan. For Monday’s resolution, career, click here. Please feel free to share your resolutions in the comments. There will be a post at the end of the week compiling them all.

I am a snack-aholic. I’m not much into sweets, but put a bag of something salty next to me and don’t expect to see it again. Doritos and Cheetos are my favorite. No need for fancy flavors, the originals are just fine by me. You can leave your bags over there.

What was I saying again? Oh yeah, I love me some snacks. But the problem with snacks are they don’t satisfy. I’m always left wanting more. As the Lays commercial claims, “you can’t eat just one!”

I used to have some self control in this area. I’d take a Costco-sized bag of trail mix to work and it would last me a couple of months. Now it’s lasting me just a few weeks. My other eating habits haven’t changed. And I’m not more active to want to eat more. In fact, far from it! But the usual handful of nuts and raisins just doesn’t satisfy anymore.

Jesus promised, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

Jesus satisfies. He never leaves us wanting more. But don’t we approach our spirituality like a snack? We reach for a handful when we get the craving, but we are never satisfied. I am guilty of this in my own personal Bible study. I snack on a little here and snack on a little there. And when I do sit down for a complete meal of in-depth study, I can’t eat another bite. So back to snacks I go.

So another of my resolutions this year is to eat right, to stop snacking on the Word of God and devour full meals. There’s already enough junk in my life, I don’t need to eat more of it.

Are We Spoiled?

Frank

Today marks the 400th anniversary of the King James translation of the Bible and boy have we come a long way. From YouVerision’s site:

In the 14–16th centuries, a controversial question had been dividing nations: should the common man be able to read God’s Word? It was so incendiary that some people were killed for their translation efforts.

The KJV was not the first translation of God’s Word into English, but it has been one of the most influential in making Scripture widely available to everyday people in their own language.

The KJV is revolutionary in its reach. It has endured as one of the most widely read books in human history.

Written during the era of Shakespeare, the KJV is praised for its beauty and poetry. Many phrases we use today originated in the KJV, like the salt of the earth, a drop in the bucket, eye to eye, and labour of love.

Are we spoiled today? I went to the local Christian bookstore the other day to look for a new Bible for my wife. She wanted a replacement for her favorite, of which its cover has come off, pages have fallen out, and is a general pain to carry around. She wanted something the same size and didn’t want one with helps or devotions. Sounds easy, right? But I walk in and see an entire wall filled with Bibles of every kind and color. Different translations, different devotionals, different helps; each marketed to a different segment. There are Bibles for firefighters, Bibles for pre-teen girls, Bibles for retirees, and I could go on and on. Of course I’m a sucker- I own at least a half-dozen Bibles with different emphasis to aid in my Bible study, but what about a good, plain old Bible? I couldn’t find one. Well I could, but it was only the extra thick, black bound, meant to put on a bookshelf and never opened version. There were ones like she was looking for, but then they had to gussy up the covers: flowers, camouflage, purple…

And don’t even get me started on translations!

I guess I find it funny that a few hundred years ago you could have been killed for having a contemporary translation of the Bible. In some parts of the world today you could still be killed for having a Bible, no matter the translation, publisher, or color of leather binding. Some friends of my sister can’t even name the country they’re in translating for Wycliffe. Yet in America today we have more Bibles than we know what to do with. In fact, we have so many we find ourselves debating semantics and political correctness rather than focusing on its message.

Fact is, few of us are risking our lives by owning a Bible. It is hardly the radical document that it is meant to be. Many own one but never open it. Many (like me) own more than one just because we can. We’ve come a long way.

I love the movie The Book of Eli simply because of its theme: what lengths would you go to to preserve the last known Bible? And I’ll be honest, I was tearing up at the end. The inspired Word of God is that beautiful, that powerful.

Do you take owning a Bible for granted?

For the Word of God is living and active… (Hebrews 4:12)