“Searching the Scriptures”

BIBLE READING: Acts 17

                How many times have you left your worship services or Bible class so intrigued by what you heard, that you went home and opened your Bible to search and see if what you heard was true?  Sadly, I think the answer lies somewhere between “Not Very Often” to “Never”.  We have almost trained ourselves to accept whatever is taught in our classes or in our pulpits as fact, because usually we think that the teacher is much more qualified than the person in the pew. That simply is not true!  One of the most beautiful things about the Bible is that “almost anyone is capable” of understanding the Word. However, I want to stress the phrase “almost anyone is capable”.  To be “capable of understanding the Scripture”, requires a few pre-requisites.  First, you must have a desire to want to know and understand God.  David once said “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Psalms 34:8)”.  An interesting tidbit of the phrase “takes refuge in”, indicates someone who “flees to Him for safety”.  David is saying to us “open your eyes and see—how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him.” (Ps. 34:8 MSG).  Once we develop a strong desire to run to God, then we will work to develop the second prerequisite for understanding God’s word; having a respect for the Scriptures.  Paul said in 2 Timothy 3.16 that “All Scripture is God breathed…”, that means all of Scripture comes directly from God.  Peter later adds that it isn’t “produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1.21).   Then we see that the Hebrew writer reminds us of how God had delivered the Children of Israel in the days of Moses and Joshua and will continue to give us our rest as well.  Therefore, we must “strive to enter that rest” so we don’t “fall by some sort of disobedience” (Hebrews 4.11).  Then he immediately points us to the source by which we can “strive” and not “fall” being the Word of God and how powerful it is to us (Hebrews 4.12).  Once we have that desire to know God and the proper respect for the Word of God, being the means by which we can know, we will search to know!  That is why Paul and Silas were so impressed with the Bereans in that “they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”  If we want to be considered more “noble” than those of the world, then we will search and see if what we are hearing in our classes and pulpits is in fact from the Word of God.  When we become too trusting in men’s efforts, we can get “carried off by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4.14).  This Wednesday and this Sunday, I pray we all “search the Scriptures” so that we can accurately run to God for safety.