I often say that “the Bible doesn’t stutter.” I usually state this in response to the idea that the more challenging statements in Scripture can be negated by comparing them to your feelings.
Another thing I often say is that “there are no controversial portions of Scripture, only challenging portions.” God’s requirements for a pastor serves as challenging in our contemporary culture, but it’s not controversial: the Bible didn’t stutter.
I have a series of books that I read daily; some call them devotionals, but I cringe at the word. I cannot explain why; it’s similar to how the crunch of water chestnut causes my spine to seize. However, I read My Utmost For His Highest and Still Higher For His Highest by Oswald Chambers, and I read The One Year Walk With God by Chris Tiegreen.
Frankly, the latter is a tour de force. Few daily readers have pushed and challenged me the way it has. I have another by Mr. Tiegreen, but I cannot think of the name of it presently. However, it isn’t as challenging. For example, yesterday’s reading included the following: “If ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,’ then the fear of man is the end of it.”
This is powerful and it serves to drive home one of the points I’ve made: the Bible doesn’t stutter. God has made it abundantly clear that our hope, our salvation, our refuge, our meaning, our everything is to be found in Him. As an American, this is a challenging notion. How often have we been told that we can have faith in our jobs, money, savings accounts, retirement, property, doomsday vault, etc? We are commanded to trust in God as the birds do.
I would say this concept, full and utter fear of the Lord, is something I’m working on. With the farm and our own hopes for the future, we find ourselves hedging our bets at times- when, likely, we should really be jumping out, arms stretched, into the hands of a loving God.
Finally. Chambers made a great point yesterday, “Lust means ‘I must have it at once.'”
We like to believe we’re free from lust because we don’t want to bed our neighbor’s wife. However, lust manifests itself in many, many areas of our lives. I see it in myself all the time in my lack of patience and desire to have things immediately. One of those things to be worked on.