The Bismark was the pride and terror of the German Navy in WWII. It could outrun and outgun anything in the English Navy. But when being pursued by the British on May 27, 1941 the Bismark began to sail erratically and then headed back into the British ships who sunk it. What happened to render the great ship useless? A torpedo had hit the Bismark on its rudder. It could no longer be directed. It sunk as now an easy prey.
Such is a Christian who does not know his Bible and cannot make intelligent and informed decisions. Like the Bismark he has power and great potential but no direction. He soon will sink.
“The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom….”( Pr 4:7) A discipline must begin in a Christian’s life of the disciplined regimen of the acquiring of the mind of Christ – the Bible.
Solomon said “you cannot put a net in the eyes of a bird” (Pr 1:27), because a bird can see all things from its lofty perch. So it is when a person knows that which is the revealed will of God. They can’t be fooled or misled. But no matter how talented a person is, or how wealthy or intelligent or charismatic, magnetic of personality or endowed with noble heritage, when they are ignorant of the Bible they will have no guidance in the areas that can give true joy or true disaster. And usually the reason that a person does not have a biblical reference point is because they are self-confident and simply do not feel a need of Gods wisdom.
David said to God in the Psalms, “… I am a stranger with You.” (Ps 39:12) Meaning that David in life felt like an alien in a foreign land. Such is life without God. Like a man in a foreign country David was helpless. He was in desperate need of God’s guidance through a dangerous life of which he was in himself ill-equipped. Have you ever been in a foreign country and felt that you were hopelessly out of touch with what was happening about you? That is how David felt without God’s guidance.
Adam walked with God in the cool of the day. Man is simply not made to be without God’s word and guidance. Death is to be alien to the counsel of God.
Point being, successful living means that one must make choices that are wise and good. These choices may not be instinctive because of man’s fallen nature. Thus, man had best know his bible.
It is quite simple. The man whose delight is the law of the Lord shall be “like a tree firmly rooted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does he prospers. The wicked … are like chaff which the wind drives away.” (Psalm 1) Learn your Bible. Genesis through Nehemiah is a continuous story with hundreds of incidents – all meaningful, with hundreds of characters (good and bad) – all meaningful. The story is connected and interpreted in the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. Learn them. The Prophets from Isaiah to Malachi speak of God’s responses to man’s responses to His word. Learn them all. The Gospels look at God Incarnate. “The life manifested full of glory…” The gospels are only three years of snippets and sound bites as that is all we can digest. The Book of Acts looks at the beginning of Gods’ ways in the first generation of the Church Age. Learn the ways of the Spirit of God. The Epistles are a commentary on all the previous story of the Bible. Learn each verse. The Book of Revelation shows what is coming. If you read the previous 65 books, Revelation will be your reward. You will know things to come. Learn it. It is not that difficult.
Get to where when you are cut you bleed Bible. When jostled you spill Bible. When squeezed one hears Bible.
Live Bible – succeed.
Stay ignorant – fail.
Success, however, will be in the areas that matter. God’s word does not attempt to direct one into vast wealth, popularity, good looks, or social status. All the things which are coveted by men are treated as minor issues in the Bible. What scripture does is give direction on the areas of the truth of God, the love of one’s fellow man and moral choices dealing with purity. These are the areas that produce true joy and stability or when violated are the areas that can devastate a life.
David said of the scriptures, “By them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.” (Ps. 19:11)
Do you know your Bible?
Do you read it?
Me personally? I have never recovered from the fascination and power of the Bible. My wife and I read our bibles through every year. It is there where I and the eternal King meet over truth and delight and worship and resolve.
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
It is the highway to the successful life…as God deems success.
www.dentonbible.org. Used by permission.
