The Word of God must ever be transcendently precious to the believer. The Bible is, from its commencement to its close, a record of the Lord Jesus. Around Him the divine and glorious Word centers; all its wondrous types, prophecies, and facts gather. His Promise and Foreshadowing, His holy Incarnation, Nativity, and Baptism, His Obedience and Passion, His Death, Burial, and Resurrection, His Ascension to heaven, His Second Coming to judge the world, are the grand and
touching, the sublime and tender, the priceless and precious truths interwoven with the whole texture of the Bible, to which the Two Witnesses of Revelation, the Old and the New Testaments bear their harmonious and solemn testimony.

Beloved, let this be the one and chief object in your study of the Bible- the knowledge of Jesus.

The Bible is not a history, a book of science, or a poem; it is a record of Christ. Study it to know more of Him, His nature, His love, His work.With the magnanimous Paul, “count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus your Lord.”

Then will God’s Word become increasingly precious to your soul, and its truths unfold.

In every page you will, trace the history of Jesus, see the glory of Jesus, admire the work of Jesus, learn the love of Jesus, and hear the voice of Jesus.

The whole volume will be redolent of His name, and luminous with His beauty.

Oh, what is the Bible to us apart from its revelation of a Savior! Is there not great danger of studying it merely intellectually and scientifically, of reveling among its
literary beauties and its grandeur, blind to its true value, and without any desire to know that precious Savior who died for sinners, that Divine Redeemer who
purchased the ransom of His Church with His own blood; that Friend who loves us; that Brother who sympathizes with us, that enthroned High Priest who
intercedes for us within the veil?

Do we study the “Word of Christ” spiritually and honestly, as those whose souls hunger and thirst for this the bread and water of life?

Do we search it diligently and earnestly as for hidden treasure; treasure beyond all price? Can we say with David, “O how love I your law! it is my meditation all the day.”

Do we read it with a child like mind, receive it with a believing heart, bow to its teaching with reverence of soul, and receive its decisions in all questions of faith and practice as decisive and ultimate?

In a word, do we search the Scriptures humbly, prayerfully, depending upon the guidance of the Spirit, to find Jesus in them?

Of these Scriptures He is the Alpha and the Omega, the substance, the sweetness, the glory, the one, precious, all absorbing theme.

Yes, Lord! Your word is precious to our souls, because it reveals to us Your glory, and tells us of Your love!–Octavius Winslow

Elisabeth Elliot said, “An article appeared in the National Geographic years ago which has affected my thinking ever since. “The Incredible Universe,” by Kenneth F. Weaver and James P. Blair, included this paragraph:

How can the human mind deal with the knowledge that the farthest object we can see in the universe is perhaps ten billion light years away! Imagine that the thickness of this page represents the distance from the earth to the sun (93,000,000 miles, or about eight light minutes). Then the distance to the nearest star 14-1/3 light years) is a 71-foot-high stack of paper. And the diameter of our own galaxy (l00,000 light years) is a 310-mile stack, while the edge of the known universe is not reached until the pile of paper is 31,000,000 miles high, a third of the way to the sun.

Thirty-one million miles. That’s a very big stack of paper. By the time I get to thirty-one-and-a-half million I’m lost–aren’t you? I read somewhere else that our galaxy is one (only one) of perhaps ten billion.

I know the One who made all that. He is my Shepherd. This is what He says: “Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together. ..Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. …. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: “ (Isaiah 48:13, 17, 18).—

Almost always the question comes, in one form or another, Why does God do this to me?

When I am tempted to ask that same question, it loses its power when I remember that this Lord, into whose strong hands I long ago committed my life, is engineering a universe of unimaginable proportions and complexity. How could I possibly understand all that He must take into consideration as He deals with it and with me, a single individual! He has given us countless assurances that we cannot get lost in the shuffle. He choreographs the “molecular dance” which goes on every second of every minute of every day in every cell in the universe. For the record, one cell has about 200 trillion molecules. He makes note of the smallest seed and the tiniest sparrow. He is not too busy to keep records even of my falling hair. Yet in our darkness we suppose He has overlooked us. He hasn’t.

“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. ” — Job 38:4

In This mighty chapter, God seems to draw near to the perplexed and stricken soul, who sits brooding over the problems of human life, and points out that mysteries equally insoluble are above his head and under his feet; that he lives and moves amongst them. Man frets and despairs over a mystery forced upon him by sorrow and loss. He cannot interpret it, and is shaken to the heart; but the whole universe teems with mystery. Man cannot explain the creation of the world, the separation of sky and earth, the reflex influences of the one on the other. Light and darkness, wind and rain, snow and ice, storm and sunshine; the instincts of the animal creation these defy man’s absolute understanding.

But who frets at the inscrutable mystery which enshrouds these natural phenomena! We use all of them, and make them serve our purpose.

We cannot be surprised, therefore, if we discover similar mysteries in God’s dealings with ourselves. He does not answer our questions by always telling us His secret reasonings. His thoughts and ways are as much higher than ours, as the heavens are higher than the earth, and we could not more understand His reasons than tiny children can the mysteries of human life. But behind all mystery the Father’s heart is beating, and a Father’s voice is pleading, that we should trust Him. Little children, you cannot understand, but you are infinitely dear to Me; I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now; “what I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.’” Trust me, and “let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

O God, there are so many mysteries in the world, and in human life, and our eyes grow tired with straining into the darkness. Help us to believe in Thy unchanging love, and to trust where we cannot see or understand. Amen.—F. B. Meyer