Why do you read your Bible?

Random Chapter Night!

Proverbs Chapter 2:1-5
My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

Why do we read the Bible? Has anyone ever asked you that? I've been asked that a few times. 'Wait, you actually read your Bible? Why? Do you pray, too?' This is the response, (so I can't roll my eyes and say 'yeah, I pray. I pray for you' anymore.) We read the Bible to understand the respect and reverence of our LORD and to understand His knowledge. Remember: when 'lord' is all caps, it means YHWH, the personal name for God. It's written like that (shorthand) because it's too holy and sacred for the Jews to speak, because they don't want to be accused of blaspheming His name. (Their punishment for that is stoning to death... Have I mentioned lately how much I love Jesus?)

You should read through the rest of this chapter when you get a second, actually, I can't cover it all and there's some good stuff in here. The book of Proverbs is like a big letter from a father to their kid (or at least the first part is), as my pastor said once.

So when you get somebody who's just trying to be annoying and keeps asking 'why' after you tell them you read the Bible to know about God and gain wisdom about how He wants us to live, you can continue down the chapter (Thank you, Solomon!)

verses 10-17
When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you, to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks of perverse things, from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked; whose ways are crooked, and who are devious in their paths; to deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words, who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.

Four reasons why wisdom is good! Bam, right there! 1. Discretion and understanding will keep you safe. 2. They'll keep you from the man who speaks of perverse things. 3. From those who leave God's way to the ways of the world. 4. To keep us from the immoral woman who basically leads us into her sinful ways.

I've said this a million times: God will protect us from harm if we're in His will. How will He do that? It won't always be the way we expect. He won't pull a Touched By An Angel moment and send Tess to teach me to sing, or Gloria to fix all our computer issues, but He will teach us from His word, and give us wisdom to keep us safe. There may be times where we get a Monica to help us make a decision, or an Andrew teaches us about creation (click on the little piece of God's Creation picture for more details). And I have very good friends who can attest to this: it has happened to them. But sometimes it will be a subtle clicking in the mind from God while you're reading His word. His wisdom will keep us safe.

In His Service,
Joyce