The Bible

Devotional for week of May 14, 2007

 

Day One        Revelation

1.                  During my time as a Youth minister in Colorado one of our yearly traditions was to have a youth workers hunt. These hunts involved all of my youth ministry staff disguising themselves in different ways and then positioning themselves at a local mall.  All the youth would then arrive at the mall at a central location at a designated time after the workers were in their places.  The youth would then be given a sheet containing the names of all the workers in the mall with a space for the worker to sign when found. The goal for each young person was to find as many workers as possible before the time was up.  This was always a popular event for the youth who were constantly sharing stories following the hunt of how they had misidentified an innocent bystander as a worker.  It also always contained stories from the workers including a worker, who pretended to be a person sleeping on a bench covered with newspapers, was almost arrested one year and another worker who died her hair thinking she would wash it out only to find that it was permanent.  The hunt would close each year with the workers revealing themselves to the group. One year though, a very elderly looking man sat in the square and just stared at the group. I uncomfortably looked his way numerous times but never thought he was part of the group.  It was not until after the hunt that he revealed himself as one of my workers.  His disguise had been so convincing that, until the time was right and the revelation was made, no one, including myself, recognized the worker.

 

2.                  The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to His creation and to us.  Look at the following passages and describe how each passage details the event of God’s revealing Himself:

a.                  Genesis 20:1

 

b.                  Exodus 20:1-2

 

c.                  Isaiah 6:1-8

 

d.                  Jeremiah 1:2

 

e.                  Revelation 1:1

 

3.                  The revelation of God depicted in scripture is often referred to as being progressive.  This means that God revealed more and more of himself through history and therefore progressively through the scripture.  Why do you think He chose and needed to reveal Himself in this manner?

 

How do you see God’s revelation of Himself to you being in a progressive manner?

 

Would you say that you are still seeing more about God or do you think you have arrived at a point where you know all there is to know about God?

 

You probably answered that you are still learning, but does your life exhibit that?  If not, why and how can you make a change?

 

Day Two       Illumination

1.                  When my daughter Lily was very young, Andrea and I took the kids on a trip to Chicago.  Our mode of transportation was on airplane which meant a layover in Dallas where we had to change planes.  To get from one plane to the other we rode a bus on which most of the passengers stood.  I got on behind all of our crew to make sure I had the wife and the same number of children with which I had begun the trip.  Once on the bus I look over and saw little Lily standing next to a stranger holding onto his pants leg.  The man was about my height and was wearing pants the same color that I had on.  As I stood there and watched it became apparent that everyone on the bus had seen what was happening and waiting to see how she would react when she discovered her mistake.  I made sure I was standing in her clear sight so that she would not panic when she saw me.  Pretty soon she did look up and when she saw me she gave me her sweet little wave and then she looked back down.  Now, everyone on the bus was paying close attention because they knew it would not be long until she realized that she was holding on to a stranger’s pants.  The young man that she was holding on to was also looking down waiting for her to realize what was going on.  Just a few minutes after waving to me she looked back up at me with a look of panic on her face, she then looked up to see that she did not know the man she was holding on to and quickly let go and ran to me.  Everyone on the bus gave a sweet sigh and enjoyed her moment of illumination.  She grabbed a hold of me and did not let go for a long time.  That is illumination, that moment when the information we already have suddenly makes sense.  Illumination comes after we have revelation and allows it all to connect and us to better understand.

 

2.                  The Bible gives us a flowing description of how God have man revelation and then illumination to understand and connect.  What does the Bible tell us in John 14:16-17, 25-26 about how God illuminates?

 

3.                  How does illumination allow you to better understand God?

 

How does illumination impact your walk with Christ?

 

Day Three     Inspiration

1.                  Do you remember “short hand”? For those who are of the computer age, short hand was a practice that secretaries would use when they were taking dictation.  It allowed them to write quickly by using a series of easy to write symbols and strokes that could then be interpreted and written or typed out as the person giving the dictation had originally meant.  The dictator would just talk in a normal voice and speed and the person doing short hand was able to keep up.  I once worked with a man who would dictate letters to his secretary who would use short hand to write the notes. Now this man was not the most articulate person so when his secretary would actually type the letter from the shorthand notes she would often make changes in order that the letter would be more acceptable.  Now, this was not done in a disrespectful manner but as an effort to make the words and letter itself presentable and sometimes more understandable.  I am sure that the gentleman doing the dictation was fully aware of these corrections and was appreciative.  Now, the letters were still his words and thoughts only in a slightly different form.  You could say that he had inspired the words that she then would take and put in readable form.  She knew him well enough to be able to make the letters still reflect him and typed the letters with regard to that relationship. He inspired the letter that she put on paper.  Somewhere in this illustration is an example of how God inspired the writing of the Bible.  Some experts believe that He inspired it by dictating every word to the approximately fifty seven different authors who wrote the sixty six different books of the Bible. Some believe that His inspiration was to merely give the ideas and then permitted the authors to express the ideas in their own words.  Whatever the truth is, God inspired, and in turn we have His word in a manner that is without error.

 

2.                  What do you think to be “inspired by God” means?

 

3.                  How do the following passages shape you view of God’s inspiration of the Bible?

a.      Jeremiah 1:9

 

b.      Ezekiel 1:3

 

c.      Luke 1:3

 

d.      Galatians 1:11-12

 

Day Four       The Point

1.                  Have you ever read a book or seen a movie where, at the end, you were left wondering what it was all about?  Have you ever listened to someone tell you a story where you were attempting the entire duration the story to figure out the point?  The Bible could easily been seen in that way.  If someone were to just pick up a Bible and randomly open it up and read a page, without any prior knowledge and without and future research, there is a good chance that he or she would set the Bible down questioning, “What’s the point?”  This is because the Bible is a whole, unified book.  Even though it was written by people in different geographical locations and occupations as diverse as physicians and kings to farmers and shepherds God inspired it in a way that it comes together as one whole unified book. It uses historical, scientific, and legal terminology, poetry, prophecy, and philosophy, as well as sociology and salvation to bring the reader to the point.  What do you think the point(s) of the Bible is/are?

 

2.                  While you can probably name other points, there are probably three main points in the Bible.  Look at some of these corresponding scriptures for each of these points to better understand.

a.      Redemption – Genesis 12:1, Exodus 19:1,Romans 1:18 and 3:26, Galatians 1:3-4, John 1:1-14, Matthew 21 and 28:19-20, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8, and I Peter 2:4-10, 19-20.

b.      Judgment – Genesis 3:16-19 and chapter 6, Exodus 7-12, Proverbs 14:34, Numbers 20:11-12, II Samuel 12:10-12, Isaiah 5, Romans 1:14-15, Matthew 25:31-46, Romans 14:10, and Revelation 20:11-15.

c.      Duty – Psalm 119:105, II Timothy 3:16-17, Matthew 5-7, John 15, Romans 6 and 12, and I Corinthians 12-18.

 

3.                  How do these points line up with the way in which you approach the Bible?

 

Day Five        So What?

The summer after my Junior year in High School I was chosen by the American Legion to attend the Oklahoma Boys State. This is a week where young men (the girls attended “Girls State” at another location….this may have been part of the reason I had little to no interest in the week) go to a college campus and spend the week learning about our government and the political process.  I had a miserable time.  My mom still has a letter I wrote home detailing the misery I was going through during the week.  The strange thing was, at the end of the week, many of the young men could not quit speaking of what a wonderful and life impacting time they had experienced.  They spoke of all that they had learned and knew that this was going to prove to be a pivotal point in their lives. As I look back I know I did not enjoy the week mainly because I did not put anything into the week, I did not attempt to gain or enjoy the experience.  This was probably for two reasons: 1.) I did not connect with the topic of the week, and 2.) I did not make the effort to enjoy or develop the relationships or gain from the overall experience.  We get out of something what we put into it. This is also true of the Bible.  We are only going to gain and profit if we chose to allow the Holy Spirit to use the Word of God to impact our lives.  Take today to look at your own attitudes and efforts in regard to God’s Word.  Use that look to determine if you are allowing God to use His Word to guide, refine, and direct your life.  Pray about your own determination from your time of reflection.