Ancient Words

I like books. Okay, I love books. Ask my husband. It’s not that I have a tremendous number of them, but the ones I have are good, very good. Their authors (even the ones that lived centuries ago) are friends of mine. We just haven’t met… yet.

I’ve gotten a lot of help from those books. Hours of entertainment, yes, but far more. Insights when befuddled, encouragement when down, motivation when stalled. Enlightenment from commentators, inspiration from biographers, practical wisdom from experts in various aspects of the art of living.

But I’ve got to agree with Pastor Ben, who Sunday affirmed something God impressed on me a long time ago. Get into God’s Word first.

Are you like me? How easy to come up against a parenting problem and reach for a book by Dobson. How easy to delve into a book of the Bible by purchasing a Bible study guide. How easy to hit a challenging comment of Jesus’ or a difficult teaching of Paul’s, and head straight for the ole commentary. Somebody else has thought this through. Somebody who knows more than I do, has degrees to back up his or her interpretation, has put in the research time, and has authoritatively stated the results in black and white.

Dr. Phil recently interviewed a woman who pampered her Chihuahua to the extent of chewing the dog biscuits and spitting them into the dog’s mouth. He observed her general obsession with her “child,” (she had no immediate family), her cheerful contentment with the situation, and her opposition to changing, and finally concluded that it worked for her. “Keep on chewing those biscuits,” he conceded at show’s end.

However distasteful it sounds, I think that God sometimes has to make those concessions to us, too. He sees that we’re just not gonna put in the time and effort to feed ourselves, or, rather, let Him feed us directly. So He lets us be nourished (ugh!) indirectly from writers and scholars and counselors who have, hopefully, done the hard and rewarding work of mining the Word of God.

Like Pastor Ben, I’m extremely grateful for those people. God speaks to us through them, and we need to read what they have to say. But I don’t want to miss what God first wants to give directly to me, tailor-made for my situation. I don’t want Him to have to route His messages through a third party because I won’t sit with His ancient words and listen for the voice of His Spirit. Sometimes I need reminded of this, as I was this past Sunday.

And I don’t think I’m the only one who resolves afresh, Give me the ancient words first.