“Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.”
Psalm 119:105
Around 2008, I attended a men’s conference at Denton Bible Church titled A Man and His Bible. That weekend, God planted something in my heart that resonates with me still to this day. Perhaps it was a vision. It could have been an ideal. At the very least, God’s Word assumed a priority in my life and daily routine that it previously did not occupy. It was as if the Bible took new ground in my soul and shined forth an inextinguishable brilliant light illuminating the world around me. Conviction. Clarity. Hunger. A desire to know the Lord. The weight of glory. All these things and more resulted from dedicating a non-negotiable time to meet with God through His Word.
Some 16 years later, I am experiencing the benefits of acting upon and carrying on that conviction. To be sure, I’m not healthier or wealthier due to daily reading, but I’m more grounded when the storms hit than I used to be. I’m not smarter because I started reading God’s Word every day. Still, I’m certainly more proficient at seeing connections between the Old and New Testaments than I previously could, enabling me to stay solid amidst theological fads. Indeed, God’s Word has and continues to produce in me, by His Spirit, a heart that seeks His face. To that, I say, “Glory!”
What about you? How has God used His Word to shape and mold you? I’m sure you have stories you could tell. What a gift God has given us with His Word!
As we start a new year, let me suggest a plan I have used for a long time. It was birthed out of a pastor’s heart in the nineteenth century to enable his congregation to move through the Bible, daily being exposed to the Old and New Testaments. It’s a daily reading plan by the late Robert Murray M’Cheyne. I use the two-volume set put together with insightful notes by D.A. Carson. You can find those here: Volume 1 and Volume 2.
Whatever path you take to read God’s Word this coming year, God bless you as you endeavor to know the Lord, align with His heart, and seek His face. Be encouraged, my friends; our lives are but a breath…and then, we will see our Lord face-to-face.
Press on!
— December 28, 2023