If I were the devil, one of my first goals would be to stop people from “digging in” the Scriptures. I would not want them to read or study the Bible! Knowing what the Word of God is and what it can do, if I were the devil, I would do all I could do to keep people away from it.
The following acronym has been suggested about the Bible:
B – Basic
I – Instructions
B – Before
L- Leaving
E – Earth
The Bible – the very Word of God can and will make a difference!
In a survey several years ago of over 500 pastors, the following question was asked, “What do you feel is the major reason Christians do not read the Bible?”
- 47% Lack of time / too busy
- 19% Laziness or lack of discipline
- 15% Not important or relevant
- 8% Not a priority
- 3% Don’t understand what they are reading
- 3% Not readers / poor reading skills
65% of adult Bible readers have never read the complete New Testament. That’s 27 Books consisting of 260 chapters (only 838,380 letters)!
“This Book, which we call the Bible, contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the solder’s sword, and the Christian’s charter. Here paradise is restored, heaven is opened and the gates of hell or disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It shall fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and will be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibilities, rewards the greatest labors, and condemns all who trifle with its contents.”
“The Bible was written by about 40 men who engaged in writing it during a period of about 1600 years dating from 1500 B.C. to about 100 years after Christ. These men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (II Peter 1:21). They wrote not in words of human wisdom but in words taught by the Holy Ghost (I Corinthians 2:13).“
–The Open Bible Edition / Thomas Nelson Publishers
What a Book and yet so many never read or study from it.
The first part of the passage in Deut 6 was to call an assembly of people to worship. Our highest calling is to love God with all we are. Immediately following this call to worship is an admonition. It is simply this: The word of God is to be taught in a variety of ways and at various times of the day in the home so that the command to put God first will rest on a foundation of an understanding of what God has done in the past, is doing now, and will do in the future.
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” – Psalm 11:3
The Word of God is to be taught so diligently that it penetrates the heart (Psalm 1:1-3). Repeated discussion is the order of the day, every day! The call to bind it on the hand, the forehead, the doorpost and the gate makes it clear that the Word of God is to be heard and seen wherever one looks while going about the daily routine of life.
Some “think” they know the Scriptures. They have studied but they may not have the wisdom to comprehend what God is saying. The story is told about a ministerial candidate for ordination. He was to tell his favorite Bible story. Here it goes! “There was a good Samaritan going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among thorns and they sprang up and choked him and left him half dead. And he said, I will arise and he arose and came to a tree and he got hung in the limb of the tree and he hung there for forty days and forty nights and the ravens fed him. Delilah, she came along with a pair of shears and cut off his hair and he fell on stony ground. Again, he said I will arise and he arose and came to a wall and Jezebel was sitting on the wall and she mocked him – and he said, Chunk her down and they chunked her down. He said Chunk her down again and they did, and he said, Chunk her down seventy times seven and great was the fall thereof; and of the fragments that remained they picked up twelve baskets full and whose wife will she be in resurrection?” 
We believe in teaching the Scriptures in each service at our Church. Our Youth Program (AWANA) has been used of God to teach the teacher and student the Word of God. AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed and comes from the Bible verse 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
