“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and succeed.” – Joshua 1:8
Put it in writing! That’s a phrase we often hear in our culture today. It’s because we live in a very litigious society. In the past, a person’s word was sometimes all that one needed. But not anymore! Today, documentation is needed to provide evidence in legal disputes over financial transactions, medical procedures, large purchases, certifications, educational transcripts, and so on. Written documents have also become necessary to protect ourselves from fraud and scams.
But how often do we actually read the contracts and documents that we are signing? Often, they are lengthy and filled with legal jargon that we might not fully understand. But we sign these documents anyway to speed up the process of closing a deal or getting access to something, such as a bank account, website login, or medical care. For the most part, we trust those who are asking us to sign these documents. As long as they look normal and we don’t see anything that doesn’t look right, we go ahead and sign on the dotted line. If there is a problem, it’s usually in what we call the “fine print”, or the details that we don’t bother to read closely.
When God wanted to communicate to His human creation, He too created a document and “put it in writing”! It’s called the Bible, and it includes the evidence of who He is and what He’s done. It was written by about 40 authors who were led by God to write down what they saw and knew about Him through His revelation to them. The Bible is also the most printed and read book in all of history according to Guiness World Records. The Bible represents His “contract” with us and specifies His actions and our responsibilities. Therefore, we must read the Bible in its entirety, so we don’t miss the “fine print” of what He did for us and what we should do for Him! God signed this contract using the blood of His only Son Jesus on the cross, confirming His commitment to us. When we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we are signing this contract with God and indicating our commitment to Him. Today, 2.4 billion people worldwide have signed this contract, signifying their commitment to Jesus as well!
I believe there are 4 things that God wanted to communicate to us through His Word – the Bible:
1. To know His heart. It’s often said that we “really don’t know someone until we know their heart.” So, to know God we must first know His heart. God is love (1 John 4:16), and he created us out of love (Genesis 1:27) He also gave us the freedom to choose to worship and obey Him. This was not to control us or force Himself on us. Instead, His desire is that we turn to Him for wisdom, strength, power, and blessings, which He so desperately wants to give freely to each of us who asks (Matthew 7:7-8). God is full of compassion and mercy (James 5:11), God is patient and kind (1 Corinthians 13:4), and God is forgiving and gracious (Nehemiah 9:17). This is the heart of our God!
2. To know His truth. Truth matters.Pontious Pilate once famously said, “What is truth?” to Jesus (John 18:38). Jesus had just declared to Pilate that all those on the side of truth listen to Him. But Pilate, like many people today, ignore Jesus’s words and refuse to accept that God’s Word is truth and instead make up their own truth. In the Bible, God communicated the truth of how the world began, how we were made, how we are supposed to function, how we fall short of His image through our sinfulness, and why He sent Jesus to rescue and restore us to Him. He also communicated the history of the Hebrew people and their continuous cycle of turning to God, then turning away from Him, and then turning back to Him again. The Bible says that “I, the Lord, speak the truth.” (Isaiah 45:19) We humans get into all kinds of trouble when we ignore or reject God’s truth and listen to other voices or the lies of this world!
3. To know His Son. We’ve all heard the expression, “like father, like son.” It commonly means that oftentimes a son will act like his father because of his genetics and how he was raised. But the son is not the father and differs from his earthly father in many other ways. Jesus, on the other hand, is the exact representation of His father (Colossians 1:15). Jesus also proclaimed that “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30). God did not abandon us nor leave us to our own self-inflicted demise. Instead, God provided a perfect lamb, His only Son, to be sacrificed for our sin, as well as the sins of all mankind. Jesus willingly did this so that we might be reconciled to God and restored to a right relationship with Him. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we receive God’s love, grace, and forgiveness so that we might live with Him forever (John 3:16)! We did not earn this grace (Ephesians 2:8). We did not deserve this grace (Romans 3:23). But we can receive this grace solely and simply by putting our faith and trust in Jesus!
4. To never forget the above 3 things. If I don’t write something down that I need to do, I usually forget to do it. When I talk to my daughter on the phone, she often tells me to write down what she asked me to do so I don’t forget to do it as I promised I would. We humans are far from perfect, and we often forget things we should know or do. But like the Apostle Paul, we also struggle to do the things God asks us to do (Romans 7:15). God alone is faithful and always keeps His promises. But He too also wrote them down in the Bible for us to know and remember! It is the Bible that shows us God’s heart, God’s truth, and God’s grace through His Son Jesus. And He promises to never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) and to trust in His Word alone (Proverbs 3:5). It is important that we read His Word to remember whose we are, what He’s done for us, and how we can live lives worthy of the calling we have received (Ephesians 4:1).
We should all be thankful that God has not only written His Word on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10) but has also “put it into writing” so that we might know Him more and how to live for Him (2 Timothy 3:16)! The Bible is not complicated nor vague as some might argue. But through His Word God speaks plainly to us to help us understand who He is, who we are, and what He has done for us. If we want to know God more, all we need to do is to read the Bible! Because after all, God “put it in writing” for us to read and share with those who seek to know Him!!