Passage Read: Amos 7 - Obadiah 1
Meditation Verses: Amos 8:11-12
Thought
We live in a day of great literacy. We live in a day when the Word of God is taught on radio and on the internet every hour of every day. We have countless books attempting to explain the truths of Scripture. Yet studies show that we are greatly ignorant of what the Bible actually teaches. In truth, it is the prevalence of teaching materials and speakers that is behind our confusion. There are as many opinions about what God's Word means as there are writers and speakers. In a real way, "every man's own word becomes his oracle, and so you distort the words of the living God." It was much better back in the day when all a man had was the Bible, and he took the time to read it, alongside other men reading and discussing how to practice the words of God. There is a famine today of God's Word, though it is taught correctly in so many places, because no one knows who teaches it in truth. We are drowning in a sea of plenty. We're looking here and there, anywhere and everywhere, for the truth, while it sits unopened in our hand.
Application
The simple solution is discipline, and fellowship with others who likewise discipline themselves to read God's Word, tremble before it and put it into practice. I can't control what others do, though I sure would like to influence them, but I can apply my own discipline. I don't need to wait for others; I am responsible for my own choices. And there is nothing on earth more important than me getting to know God directly through His Word.