“Such a Time as This”
“...Who knoweth that thou art come to the
kingdom for such a time as this?
–Esther 4:14
This was the question Mordecai asked Esther when the Jews were threatened, and she was in a position to make a difference. It was a time when righteous people were needed to “step up”, and do God’s work for the good of others.
Each of us lives in his own time, confronting the needs of his generation, and facing the duty that such needs impose upon us. It is not our “job” to worry about past generations and their problems, we have our own – although many of them have been present in past times (and we can profit much from learning how God expected His disciples to deal with them then...it will work today as well). Paul warned in 2 Tim 3:1 that “grievous” (perilous) times shall come, and goes on to describe the human condition which would prevail at that time. Well, those times HAVE come, in OUR time. It becomes our “job” to deal with them in the way God would have us do, and it is not unlikely that we ARE here for just “such a time as this”!
So many things are needed today, and the burden is heavy upon righteous people to “step up” and carry out the will of God. One of the dangers about which we are warned (and which we must confront) is pointed out in 2 Tim 4:3,4: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and be turned unto fables.” Paul said that time would come–AND IT HAS! People today are itching for soft, smooth teaching. Plenty of preachers and teachers supply the compromised, watered-down lenient teaching necessary to tickle itching ears.
Mankind’s only hope is to return to the undiluted and strict word of God. For those who know what it is, this is our “time”. Jude tells us to “contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Christians who are concerned for the truth and want to obey the word of Christ will be neither ashamed or afraid to discuss and defend Bible truth. Divine spokesmen in the first century were not too “busy” or too “good” to engage the enemy. Today, God’s enemies wear sanctimonious robes, exude a false “piety”, and preach “peace, peace, where there is no peace.” Only the truth of the Bible can reclaim humanity – and today there is a “famine of hearing the word.”
Personally, I must distinguish between what I want to hear, and what I must hear. For others, I must insist upon teaching only what God says, and be willing to do battle when more or less is done. Remember, “all that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing” –AcBelue
Editorial: Reading the Bible in 2008
Have you made your plans for 2008 yet? Many people make resolutions at the beginning of a new year, plans to improve themselves or their habits in the coming twelve months, plans that are usually discarded by the time February has come and gone. Personal improvement is noble and important work, but of even greater importance and more lasting significance is the quest for personal, spiritual improvement. In this regard, we might identify many resolutions that could advance our practice of godliness. We might memorize scripture, study the Bible more thoroughly, commit to daily meditation, or spend extra time in prayer. All of these habits can help us draw closer to God, but perhaps no habit of spiritual discipline is more basic or more helpful than the simple practice of daily Bible reading.
Daily Bible reading may seem too mundane to affect substantive change in our spiritual lives, but those who have devoted themselves to the practice of this discipline can testify to the rich rewards of such a habit. The correlation between reverent, meditative reading of the scriptures and personal, spiritual growth can scarcely be overstated. The Psalmist spoke frequently and fervently of his passion for the word of God. The righteous man’s “delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:2). Indeed, the righteous man’s walk cannot be considered apart from his association with God’s word. “The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, And his tongue talks of justice. The law of his God is in his heart; None of his steps shall slide” (Ps. 37:30-31). The scriptures are God’s instrument for renewing man’s mind and reshaping his heart (cf. Ro. 12:1-2; Eph. 6:17; Co. 3:9-11). Again the Psalmist said, “Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O LORD, And teach out of Your law” (94:12). We cannot expect to understand the ways of God and enjoy the blessings and security of a relationship with God if we neglect the avenue by which these gifts come: the Bible.
The one hundred and nineteenth Psalm speaks magnificently of the spiritual man’s relation to the word of God. It is a psalm that should be read and contemplated regularly by all those who desire to be found blameless before God. In it the psalmist affirms his devotion to God’s word and his desire to obey all that the word commands. He describes the many benefits he has accrued as a consequence of his devotion to the scriptures, and he expresses his continual delight in and appreciation of God’s written revelation. Can we say the same of our relation to the word of God?
There are many things that compete for our time and attention in this busy world. Television, radio, and movies have filled even the quiet hours at home which many people in bygone generations filled with family activities, profitable study, and religious devotion. But if closeness to God is important to us, we will gladly sacrifice these unprofitable distractions for the sake of spending time in quiet reading and contemplation of the holy word of God.
The Bible can be read aloud in roughly seventy-two hours. If you devote one half-hour to Bible reading each day, even the slowest reader will read the entire book cover to cover at least twice in one year. By reading just three chapters per day, the entire New Testament can be read four times in one year. How much better would you know the Bible if you read it twice in twelve months? How much better would you understand the gospel of Jesus Christ if you read the New Testament four times in the next year? How much better will you know the Bible at the end of 2008? To read the Bible daily is a resolution not only worth making, it is a resolution worth keeping. –The Editors
Did You Know?
¨ The Bible contains 1,189 chapters. By reading just 3.26 chapters per day, the entire Bible can be read in one year.
¨ The New Testament contains 260 chapters. By studying one chapter per day, Monday thru Friday, every chapter of the New Testament can be studied in one year.
¨ The book of Psalms has one hundred-fifty divisions in it. By reading just five psalms per day (many of them are very short), the entire book of Psalms can be read in one month.
Because of conflicting schedules and circumstances, we did not publish Examine Your Bible in October and November this year. We regret this gap and are glad to be back on schedule. Thanks to those of you who missed us.
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