For Those Who Do Not Know

The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place,

and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, 

for those who do not know about God.

Disregard the study of God,

and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life

blindfold, as it were, with no sense of direction,

and no understanding of what surrounds you.

This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.

- J.I. Packer, in Knowing God (p.15)

Image via Pixabay

Just Like Another Person

I'm reading a biography on Augustine and sharing an excerpt with you today. I've not thought of the Bible quite this way before, but it's a beautiful way to think of it.

As Augustine saw it, philosophy is ultimately reductionist because it tries to explain with the mind things that go beyond the mind’s competence. Christian faith, on the other hand, embraces the mind but leads the believer to appreciate a truth that is higher. Personal knowledge is more immediate and more flexible than rational deduction, because it can handle the paradox of knowing and not knowing at the same time. An idea is an end in itself—you either understand it or you do not. But a person is a mystery that you have to keep penetrating more deeply and that, like God, can ultimately be known only by love. The beauty and wonder of the Bible is that it is not a philosophical system but a personal revelation from God. It makes sense in the way that all personal relationships do. At one level it compels us to enter into the experience of which it speaks, but at another level it contains mysteries whose depths we can never hope to plumb. In other words, it is just like another person—real and yet impenetrable at the same time.

- Gerald Bray, in Augustine on the Christian Life, p. 96

Image ~ The Story Book, 1877

William-Adolphe Bouguereau 

public domain via Wikimedia Commons

The TimeChart of Biblical History

I truly enjoy the Sunday School hour at our church as a variety of different classes are offered each quarter. I'm taking a class this quarter on studying the Bible, and one topic brought up in discussion today was suggested resources for studying the historical context of a book or passage. A friend in the class recommended the Time Chart of Biblical History, which I've also found to be a very helpful resource.

It's handy to keep by my quiet time/study area where I can refer to it as I'm reading. It's 18 inches tall (so it doesn't fit in the bookcase, for sure!) and opens accordion-style to about 17 feet. It provides a visual representation of over 4000 years with charts, maps, lists and chronologies. You can see who's living and what's going on in the known world during the same time period.


If you've wanted to connect the dots in biblical history, the Time Chart of Biblical History would be a great addition to your own home library.

Why Do You Read the Bible?

We live in a therapeutic culture. And it subtly pervades the church. Do we recognize it? How often do you attend a worship service hoping the pastor will say something that will make you feel better about what's going on in your life? To encourage you or cheer you on? How often do you start your day with Bible reading so your day will run smoother? Skip the reading and what do you expect? A not-so-good day. Do you have your favorite passages that give you a boost when you're feeling down? Not that any of these reasons are wrong, but what is truly at the core of why you read your Bible? Is it about you? Or is it about God?

As I was recently listening to a conversation on Revive Our Hearts between Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Richard Owen Roberts, Mr. Roberts made the following statement that gave me pause. It's part of a series entitled When God Revives A Heart.

What if you were to call a moratorium on all misuse of the Bible? What if you were to say to yourself, “I’m tired of using the Bible as a medicine cabinet—going to the Bible to get a pill to pick me up; to get a vitamin—something to encourage me. I’m going to use the Bible for the next six months to gain such a picture of God that His holiness becomes my holiness.”  

Desiring God Himself.

If you'd like to hear the conversation, you can listen in here. This day's segment is entitled "Reversing the Decline."

Painting ~ Woman Reading by a Paper-Bell Shade 1766, Henry Robert Morland 1716-1797

Wikimedia Commons public domain