Pastor Lee’s Lines …..
An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening church service when she was startled by an intruder. As she caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables, she yelled, “Stop! Acts 2:38!” (Repent and be baptized. In the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven). The burglar stopped in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done. As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, “Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell scripture to you.” “Scripture?” replied the burglar, “She said she had an axe and two 38s!”
How well do you know scripture? For most people the scriptures are the New Testament books and for many their knowledge is mostly limited to the four gospels and some of Paul’s letters. As far as the Old Testament is concerned, the book of Psalms is known and those passages from Isaiah and Malachi that we hear during the season of Advent.
On Sunday January 27th I used the lectionary reading from Nehemiah, one of the “minor” prophets. Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem with the group that the Babylonians had released. His mission was to rebuild the city walls and the temple. A priest by the name of Ezra came along and when the wall was completed he read the scriptures to the people. The scripture says that Ezra stood on a wooden table and read for several hours and the people listened. They were so inspired that they broke down and wept. Why? Because they had not heard the scriptures for many years. Remember, back in those days every home didn’t have at least one Torah (Bible) in their home. There was no printing press, no internet service, no recording devices to bring them the scriptures. These people were hungry for the Word of God.
Sometimes we take the scriptures for granted because they are so available. The Bible comes in many versions so that we can understand it in today’s language. We can get study Bibles that help us understand the history and society of the times. We can get recordings of the Bible so that we can take it anywhere. Yes, we can even listen to scripture on CDs as we are driving in our cars. You can get information on how to read the Bible in one year in an orderly way and there are Bibles that are set up to do that. The point is that we don’t really have a good reason for not reading the Bible or hearing the words of scripture.
May God guide us as we read His Word and find comfort, strength, hope, and direction in our lives.
Blessings always,
Pastor Lee
