Isaiah 34:16: “Search from the book of the LORD, and read: / Not one of these shall fail; / Not one shall lack her mate. / For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.”

August 28th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Isaiah challenges his readers to “search from the book of the LORD,” meaning, study Scripture carefully, so that we can know just what God has spoken. Because if God has said it, and His character is flawless, then we can and must rely on His Word, the Bible. During a critical period of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln wrote this advice about the Bible to his friend Joshua Speed: “I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this book upon reason that you can and the balance by faith, and you will live and die a better man.”

Compare Lincoln’s attitude to what Thomas Jefferson did to his personal copy of the New Testament. He went through the gospels, scoring out with his pen, all passages that present Jesus as a supernatural person. The records of His miraculous birth and all the miracles are marked through, together with all statements that declare Jesus to be the Son of God. In his marked-out New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew ends with these words: “And he rolled a great stone against the door of the tomb, and departed” (27:60). When we compare the moral lives of these 2 presidents, we better understand the result rejecting Scripture has on a person’s life.

“LORD, we look again to You and Your Word for direction and guidance in our lives this day.”