The Holy Land: The Word

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Hosea 6:4 “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. I’ve always loved my Bible. I spend time diving into the Word each day, and it never fails to fortify my spirits, encourage my heart and redirect my paths. In fact, I have many Bibles in my home. My time in Israel, however, convicted me and pierced my heart… do I truly love Scripture, or do I turn to it out of obligation? As we trekked across Israel, our leaders Rod and Libby took lessons from history and combined them with passages from the Old Testament and the New Testament to paint a beautiful picture of the narrative God has been weaving since the birth of Creation. Scripture completely came alive for me standing on the soil that Jesus trod. Additionally, I was blessed to learn more about Judaism and Jewish culture. I was astounded to learn that each synagogue contains one Torah, and the people would gather around it to read the Scriptures. In fact, they would learn to read sideways and upside down, so that their position around the Torah wouldn’t impede on their time in the Word. Inconveniences much less minor can easily derail my own time with the Lord. During the Torah service, the people line up to kiss the book. Do you do that? I don’t. They demonstratively show how much they love the Word of God. It is truly a book of life to them, and they build traditions around it to act on that love. Too often, we do the opposite… we show our love for the Bible out of tradition rather than performing traditions out of love. The Lord created us to live in the environment of His Word… in it… not just sort of around it. Outside of that environment, we will surely fail, succumb to temptation and be destroyed by our own sinful nature. He created His people to thrive alongside His heartbeat… inside the Word. My prayer is that you would experience His Holy Bible coming alive in your life. That the stories you have read over and over again through the years would take on a new profundity and new meaning for you. Owning a Bible and being able to dive into it at any time of the day or night is not just a convenience… it is a privilege and essential to us as believers.