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| Photo by Isaac McCord 2016 |
As my husband looked inside a dilapidated trailer that
needed to be cleared from a lot, there were signs of neglect, decay, mold and
rust everywhere. A mouse scurried away through a hole in the back wall, and a
menacing spider seemed to leer at him, poised to strike from the center of its
vast cobweb.
Nothing salvageable here, or was there? On the crumbling
remains of a countertop he spotted a small black Bible, oddly pristine in this
sea of filth, intact, still bearing its original inscription, containing all
its pages and even its red ribbon bookmark.
An even more poignant incident made national news on November
16, 2016, when a Dollywood employee cleaning up the rubble after wildfires had
ravaged the park found a charred, yet soggy, piece of paper lying in a puddle.
Out of curiosity, he looked closer and was shocked to realize it was a Bible
page!
The edges were burned so that most of the text could no
longer be read, but on the right sight of the page there was a legible verse,
one that spoke directly to the hearts of all who were afflicted by the tragic
blazes that had destroyed many lives, homes and businesses in Gatlinburg,
Tennessee and surrounding areas:
Joel 1:19 O Lord, to thee will I cry: for the
fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned
all the trees of the field. 20 The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for
the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of
the wilderness.
Isaac McCord, the employee who found the burnt page from
the King James Bible, was profoundly moved, as were his fellow workers (who
corroborated his story), and many others who found renewed faith and hope in
this example of how God continues to speak to us through His Word ((Psalm 119:15-19).
God’s Word is alive ((Psalm
119:97-107) and eternal (Psalm
119:89,152,160), foiling all attempts by Satan to destroy it. Every
time we read it, God can move our hearts in a new way by giving us fresh wisdom to follow Him more closely (Psalm 119:129-133).
He has promised that His Word will never return to Him empty, for He uses
Scripture to accomplish His perfect will (Isaiah
55:11).
His Word wins others to Himself and encourages those who
have been born again (John 3:3-8)
by trusting in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only way to Heaven (John 14:6). All Scripture is
inspired by God, for it is God’s very Word, and it teaches, uplifts and
corrects us (2 Timothy 3:16).
Believers in Christ are privileged to be His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) and fellow workers
with Him (1 Corinthians 3:9),
spreading the Good News of salvation (Acts
20:24) through our personal testimony and lifestyle (Matthew 28:19-20). We can share God’s
Word (Acts 8:4) by speaking or
reading Bible passages to others (1
Corinthians 1:17; 2 Timothy 4:2), passing out Gospel tracts, and
even distributing Bibles as God enables us (Psalm
126:6).
While at the movie theatre on Valentine’s Day, my
husband and I were blessed to encounter an old, jauntily dressed man, walking
with a cane and carrying Bibles from the Dollar Store in his other arm. “Would
you like a free Bible?” he offered to those standing in line, after greeting
them courteously. We chatted with him briefly and encouraged one another to
keep on keeping on for the Lord (2
Thessalonians 3; Galatians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:58).
Many ministries and missionaries distribute Bibles more
formally and on a larger scale, as does Gideons International, which places
Bibles in hotel rooms and hands them out to students and on street corners throughout
the world.
For one local Gideons’ convention, the chapter had reserved
and paid for a block of rooms in a suitable hotel. They asked if they could
place Bibles throughout the hotel, but were then informed by management that it
was “against policy.” A few days later, they received a call from the same
manager, humbly asking if it were too late to place Bibles after all.
Of course the Gideons were delighted to oblige, and the
camp leader felt led to inquire what had motivated the sudden policy change.
Hesitantly, the manager explained that on the night after he had denied the Bible
distribution to hotel rooms, a young man had checked in and shortly after attempted
suicide by jumping from his fifth story window.
Thankfully, he landed in the branches of a tree, and was
unharmed except for some scrapes and bruises. When interviewed later, he explained
that he was going through rough times and had checked in hoping to sort things
out and find some peace. Instinctively he reached for the Gideons Bible he was
accustomed to finding in hotel nightstands, but there was no Bible there!
Distraught, he took it as a sign that he was meant to end his life.
All is transient in this universe except for man’s soul,
which will either spend eternity in Heaven (John 3:16) or in hell (Matthew 18:8; 25:41); God’s
Word, which shall endure forever (Matthew
5:17-18; 24:35); and God Himself (Isaiah
9:6;63:16). God is an everlasting three-part Being: God the
Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Galatians 4:6).
Jesus Christ is Himself the Word of God (Revelation 19:13), the
Self-Existent One (Exodus 3:14)
Who is without beginning and without end (Revelation
1:8). He spoke the worlds into existence with the Word of His mouth (Genesis 1:3-26; John 1:1-3)
and He will use that same Word, sharper than a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), to defeat all His
enemies at the War of Armageddon (Revelation
1:16; 19:11-21).
May we always follow His Word as a light to our path (Psalm 119:105), hide it in our
heart to not sin against Him (Psalm
119:11), and share it with others to bring them closer to Him!
