My life is stuck in the dirt. Now make me live again according to your promise! I confessed my ways and you answered me. Now teach me your statutes! Help me understand what your precepts are about so I can contemplate your wondrous works! - Psalm 119:25-27 CEB
Recently, I had to help someone answer a question on an application which asked, “What does the Bible mean to you?” One of the problems with answering that question is that there are a multitude of ways to answer it. Answering it in a few words, is the problem. One lens of looking at the Bible is that it tells us about living life. And how to hopefully live it well. As we go through our lives, the Bible reminds us that primarily we are dealing with God. Yet it means dealing with a lot of other things that go along with living in this world. Everyday items, such as traffic jams, paying bills, plumbing problems, homework, changing diapers. Dealing with our children, our parents, our siblings, our co-workers, our neighbors. We deal with health problems, getting through COVID, our broken relationships, loss of a loved one. Fears, dangers, anxieties. We are finally out of 2020, yet unfortunately this new year we are faced with the same problems. And new concerns—leading off this year with the events of this past week in our nation’s capital.
As we read through the Bible, we realize that we are not that much different from the characters we meet in there who lived thousands of years ago. They faced problems as well. Maybe even more serious than ours. For everyday was a battle for their survival—literally. Yet through all these things that one deals with walking the face of this earth, at the forefront and in the background of all things, circumstances, events, and people—is God. As we read the Bible, we are reminded continuously and constantly of this assurance in our lives.
The Bible shouts out to us, that God is an ever-present help in our time of need. And even when we are not in great need, but just trying to get through the challenges of everyday life. I like the way that the Message translation of the Bible expresses verse 27 in the above passage.
Help me understand these things inside and out, so I can ponder your miracles and wonders.
Let this guide and encourage us as we journey into the new adventures that we will face in 2021.
Blessings,
Gary