Today I can search dozens of translations of the bible for a phrase and get a list of a thousand results within a fraction of a second. I can download commentaries and bible dictionaries that are longer than the bible itself. I can go to the library and borrow (for free) any one of thousands of Christian books and studies. I can download sermons from the internet and listen to them every day as I drive to work. I can read Christian devotionals online and receive them daily in my email. I can go on YouTube and watch full videos of some very gifted preachers. What a tremendous access to Christian resources we have that no other generation in the whole of earth’s history ever had! Not even 20 years ago in the thousands of years of Earth’s history did we have this kind of access.
What’s so special about this generation, why do we deserve this? More importantly, how did the myriads of God’s people before us ever get by without this luxury? What about a few centuries ago when people couldn’t even afford a bible in their own home? How did they get to know God? How could they meditate on God’s word without being able to read it at home?
You know, while it was difficult for those people, perhaps in some ways it was a blessing. Since they did not have all of God’s word at their fingertips they were forced to do what most of us today have never done – rely on the Holy Spirit!
Can you imagine if the bible only had five verses? How you would cherish and meditate on those five verses! Imagine if you had to walk five miles to church in the freezing rain just to hear a sermon? Don’t you think you’d appreciate that single sermon you heard more than the hundreds of others you’ve listened to in the leisure of a Sunday morning in an air conditioned building?
It’s far too easy to take for granted what we have today, and this generation has more access, more responsibility, and less appreciation for these blessings than ever before. Let us cherish every word from God that He gives us. Instead of going through five chapters of the bible in one day, let it suffice us to grab onto one passage which the Holy Spirit has spoken to us about. We should pray about it, think deeply about it and appreciate it as though that were the only word that God has given to us. Instead of jumping around busying our mind with more and more words, we’ve got to get a single word from the Holy Spirit and sit at the Lord’s feet with it. The bible is just another book without the Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah 15:16 “Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart”
If the Holy Spirit gives you a word, don’t jump on to the next verse simply for the sake of finishing your chapter for the day. Eat that word! Digest it. Cherish it, take it to heart. The few words God gives you should be the joy and the delight of your heart – those are the ones you need.
“I don’t need to go through the bible fifty times in my life. If the bible goes through me once, then I’ll be happy” – Zac Poonen