Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The bonded leather binding...

on my Bible is rapidly coming apart. At the seams and virtually everywhere else as well. The pages are wrinkled, some even torn, most marked with various colors and some passages show evidence of tears.

Husband gave me my Bible in our first year of marriage. I had noticed his Bible one day while we were dating and I realized how read the pages looked. Compared to the pages in my Bible which were crisp and clean and some still stuck together from the day of purchase. I felt just enough shame to immaturely think, "I want my Bible to look like his." I wanted my Bible to look read, but it would be a while longer before I was willing to actually do the reading.

I had a faith that only went as far as "Thankyouverymuch for saving me." I did not have a faith that desired to obey. I had a faith of tossing my Bible open to see what random verse gave me a pithy piece of wisdom. I did not have a faith that fed on the Word of God. I had a faith that made me take my Bible to church with me for external appearance sake. I did not have a faith of an internal appearance pleasing to the Lord.

So when Husband gave me a Bible, just like his, I still immaturely thought how long it might take before my pages looked like his. God Himself intervened into my pitiful faith and began to require, point out, convict and draw me to Himself in such a way that the answers for the questions, the comfort for the sorrows and the words for the praise were only found in His precious word.

One day I looked at my Bible and realized how very read the pages looked. How very worn the binding had become. How some books just fell open when I picked up my Bible. And how some passages were so marked with notes that the colors had run into one another. And I wept. Because I knew that God Himself had answered my immaturity and selfish instinct with the sweet blessing of His amazing love and forgiveness, with the filling me up of Who He is and all that He has done.

This year I had to submit to a Bible cover to literally hold some of the pieces together. That's okay. As long as I have breath, I pray that the prayer of Alistair Begg will continue to sing in my life.
Let this Book live to me, Lord; show me Yourself within Your Word.
Show me myself and show me my Savior, and let this Book live to me.

I pray that your Bible is precious to you as well. If you don't own a Bible or are in need of an excellent study Bible, go here for a giveaway of a new ESV Study Bible. May God Himself bless His Word to your mind, heart and life.

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for stopping by the "Boomer in the Pew" blog to register for the new ESV Study Bible. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog, as much as I enjoyed my stop by yours!

    If you like, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed, so that we may interact now and then.

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  2. My husband gave me the new ESV Study Bible (also one to himself!) a few months ago and I love it!

    I learned that prayer several years ago from listening to Alistair Begg. It has been a very beneficial one to pray before opening the scriptures!

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  3. I just Googled "bible repair" and got some interesting results. Some not as expensive as buying a new study Bible.

    Of course, you would have to be without it during the process. I just used my "original" Bible this weekend and have now switched it out with my "latest" Bible, which I had been using.

    It's home.

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  4. What you treasure reflects your heart, my friend.

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  5. This is wonderful and a great reminder.

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  6. I recently had to get a new Bible because of the well worn, well loved condition of my old one. I love that the well worn-ness of it reflects my journey with my God--how precious is His Word to me!

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  7. Love this post Elle!
    "Let this book live to me..."
    Blessings.

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