The Door County Cherry Crème Coffee is brewing in the kitchen and I can just taste it from the aroma lifting itself my way. Nice way to start a snowy Monday.
2 Timothy 3:16New International Version (NIV)
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
There are 66 books to the Bible and I believe in each one as the unerring Word of God. I consider the Bible to be a letter from God with many pages to it. The letter has many instructions and moments of invitation for us. There are pages within the Bible with reassurance and compassion for us. Yet I am sure there are pages within that if God hadn't used divine inspiration and men to pen His word there would be some pages that would contain His tears. I would imagine when He laid out the plan to save the world and it is written in Isaiah chapter 53 the pages would be stained with tears. This gift of eternal life paid for by His Son Jesus would be rejected by many.
When I think of all the love contained in 66 books and that it speaks to all of us individually I tear up myself. My thoughts today are based on Jeremiah 14:17 where God speaks of shedding "tears day and night" for the "daughter of my people" (KJV). Calvinists insist that it is Jeremiah, not God, who is crying. However, it was God who told Jeremiah to tell Judah that He, God, was crying for their plight.
Only God could say the "daughter of my people." The generation of Jews living in Jeremiah's day were the "daughter" or descendants of God's people, Israel who came out of Egypt. In verses 17 and 18 God, as a loving father, deeply feels the chastisement inflicted on His wayward people.
Jeremiah 14:17New International Version (NIV)
17 “Speak this word to them:
“‘Let my eyes overflow with tears
night and day without ceasing;
for the Virgin Daughter, my people,
has suffered a grievous wound,
a crushing blow
night and day without ceasing;
for the Virgin Daughter, my people,
has suffered a grievous wound,
a crushing blow
So I see the Bible at times as a love letter sent with tear stains. There are times while reading the Word, my own tears have dripped onto the pages. I guess I sent a return letter. My point today is that the Bible is more than a set of instructions. It shows us the heart of God and it is intimate to each of us, each love letter written for us to cherish and enjoy.
So today when you read your Bible say thank you to the Author. He loves you.
Marty
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