Understanding the Word

           According to some people, I am a genius because I can find an “8” in a group of 100 “9's” or because I can read something with no vowels or can read something upside down. It makes people feel good about themselves anyway if nothing else. I sense that most of you all are of the genius category if you can read my devotional which has an occasional letter left off of a word or even a word left out that should have been there in the first place. You all can get the sense of the message even with the words a bit jumbled here and there. I find many an error right after the first minute I hit the “send” button. A recent devotion had a dropped letter in the second word causing it to read rough, but the meaning apparently was still there as no one complained or poked a little fun at me for the omission. Acts 17:11 says, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” 

          I have mentioned before in one way or another, how the Bible is easy to understand and it is always trustworthy. Most publishers have really tried to present a valid copy of the Bible with all of the pages and everything as it should be. The church at Berea is the one spoken of in the passage for today. From what it says, the people of Thessalonica didn't check out what Paul said but the people of the church at Berea looked up in the Old Testament everything they could about Paul's message. We often sit at a traffic light and try to figure out the phrase that is hidden on a license plate as people try to give some type of message. The message of the Word of God is not hidden nor do you have to find some mystical way to analyze what it says. The Word of God is plain and easy to understand. My Father once looked seriously at me and said, “Calculate not your infantile poultry before the proper process of incubation has been thoroughly materialized.” I had no idea what he said. Then, he grinned at said, “Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.” I understood that! The Word of God is always plain in what it says and the vocabulary is one that you and I can understand. The problem often comes when we then add something by saying, “Well, what he meant was.....” Then we have left the words of Scripture and added our own and the understanding tends to get a little muddy. I thoroughly enjoy the simple statements of the Bible, such as “All have sinned,” “For by Grace are ye saved...” “For God so loved the world...” and most of all, “..ye must be born again.” May we all take the example of the people of Berea and search the Scriptures each and every day. God meant us to understand His message to us and His message had been preserved through the ages. Praise God today that He has given us His Word.