TO CHEW ON: "I rejoice at Your word
As one who finds great treasure." Psalm 119:162
Has this ever happened to you? You consider not renewing a magazine subscription because you don't read it a lot anyway. Then, as you think about whether you really should let it lapse, you go through back issues and notice interesting articles that you missed. You realize that it really is a helpful and interesting publication and your life would be poorer without it. So you change your mind. As you walk home from the mailbox after mailing in the renewal form and cheque, you take a deep breath. That was close! The next issue that comes, you read cover to cover. Pondering that magazine's absence has made you realize its worth.
As those who have never been without the Bible and who have most English translations of it on our shelves or at our fingertips online, we can find it as easy to take for granted as a publication that is delivered to our mailbox each month. Do we think of it in the same way as the psalmist describes it — "great treasure"? Probably not, until we consider the ramifications of its absence.
Suppose, for a minute, that all the Bibles on our bookshelves and on the internet disappeared. Think of all the things we would miss.
- No longer could we read the story of Jesus' birth at Christmas or His passion at Easter.
- No longer could we get comfort from Psalm 23 or 139.
- No longer could we refresh our minds with the picture of genuine love from 1 Corinthians 13, or challenge ourselves to bear the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5.
- All we would have of Jesus' interesting parables would be what we could remember of them.
- No longer could we get up every morning to read a bit of it as spiritual nourishment for the day...
I think I would feel as if someone had taken the foundation from under my life.
But, I ask myself, If it's worth that much, why don't I spend more time in it?
And so I challenge myself — all of us — to spend more time discovering, exploring, examining, analyzing, and putting into use and practice this Treasure Book!
PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the Bible. Thank You for how accessible it is in my culture. Help me not to take it for granted but to read it more and to store more of it in my memory as if I were in danger of no longer having it. Amen.
MORE: "TREASURE BOOK" Wordsearch
Find the bold words in the verses below in the word search puzzle above:
I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my necessary food - Job 23:12.
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether
More to be desired are they than gold
yea than much fine gold
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb - Psalm 19:10.
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies
as much as in all riches - Psalm 119:14.
The law of Your mouth is better to me
than thousands of coins of gold and silver - Psalm 119:72
How precious also are your thoughts to me O God!
How great is the sum of them - Psalm 139:17.
She is more precious than rubies
And all thing things you may desire cannot compare with her - Proverbs 3:15.
Puzzle made by Puzzlemaker at Discovery Education.
"Treasure Book" solution:
(Click on Solution to enlarge/open in a new browser)
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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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