It is easy to take something for granted when you see it all the time, isn't it?
Think about those things that you pass each day to work. You've seen them so many times that you don't give them a second thought. Unfortunately, some of us are like that when it comes to the Bible. We have not just one Bible but multiple Bibles. We may have access to Christian TV or radio where the Bible is read and taught.
We are so accustomed to having the Bible around us that we may forget its importance. I've been in places, however, where there were no Bibles, where I have given someone their very first Bible. It is an entire different reaction in these settings.
Those who have not had God's Word cherish it and desire to read and understand it, while many of us who have multiple copies of God's Word sitting around our houses never open one. In Nehemiah 8 we see the Jewish people, those who had returned to Israel following years of captivity, gathered to hear God's Word. Common people did not have access to God's Word.
Most of the people assembled that day had never heard God's Word read before. They had heard about God's Word and had teachings from it passed down over history, but they had not experienced it for themselves.
Three simple things happened in this chapter, but they had a profound impact.
First the people heard the Word. "Then he [Ezra] read from it...from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand" (v3).
Next, they understood the Word. There were "preachers" scattered amongst the assembly who explained to the people what was read. We are reminded that there is a need still today for people to explain God's Word to those who do not know it (see Romans 10:14-15).
Third, they allowed God's Word to truly impact their lives as they started obeying it (vv9-18).
Let me encourage you to do two things today. First, make a commitment to spend some time in God's Word each day. Second, each time you open God's Word, ask God to make that reading like the first time you ever touched a Bible.
Look for something new--something you have never seen before. Keep God's Word fresh in your life--and do what it tells you to do!
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Frank Banfill is an author, international speaker, and president of MaxPoint Ministries, whose purpose is to help individuals, churches and ministries reach their full potential. Please forward this blog to your family & friends. Not a subscriber? Sign up now at www.FranksBibleBlog.com. If you would like to share a comment about today's blog, you may do so at www.maxpoint.org/message_board.
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