The Word is a Light
Did you know that we forget 95% of what we hear after 72 hours? And yet, Paul reminds us in Romans 10:17 that “Faith comes from hearing the Word of God.” We must come back to the Word of God regularly if we desire to remain in step with God's call on our lives. How easy it is to forget what God's voice sounds like, what God's priorities are, and the ways that we are to follow God's lead.
God's word is a "lamp to my feet, a light to my path." (v. 105) When I am checking in with God regularly by reading the Bible, I can see the path before me so very clearly. I know the direction I am to take with my family, in my work, and through my church and other responsibilities. When I don't prioritize reading the Bible, life just becomes that much harder.
There are a number of ways that we hear the Word of God. We can listen to the Word being read to us as a child by our parents or to an audio version of the Bible playing as we drive. We attend worship and hear the Word read and proclaimed. We study the Word in Sunday School or a Small Group, and we listen to preachers and teachers through live and previously recorded sermons, podcasts, and studies.
Our current sermon series is asking each of us to reflect on one question: Do you read the Bible? If the answer is no, why not? The Bible is God’s Word to us. A love letter where we encounter Jesus speaking to us as we read the Scriptures. My hope is that all of us will read through the entirety of the Bible at some point in our lives (preferably in 2025).
I know this is a BIG task – and initially, we may have reservations about our ability to accomplish this goal. As Mike Folsom, our Adult Sunday School facilitator pointed out this weekend, he has calculated that we can read the Bible through in one year if we are willing to commit 9 minutes, 7 seconds, and 2/100ths to reading daily (this is assuming a pace of 236 words per minute).
We can do this! This is not an impossible task. We can likely find 10 – 15 minutes daily to read the Bible and take a moment to pray. The verses that precede our text this evening say it this way…
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” (Psalm 119:103)
May you know this sweetness as you spend time reading the Word.
Read:
Pray:
Almighty God, in you are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Open our eyes that we may see the wonders of your Word; and give us grace that we may clearly understand and freely choose to walk the path where your wisdom will be discovered; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.