[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Wednesday, March 20, 2013

[Paul]

Surprise folks.  It looks like I can give you a good night message for this evening, at least it's evening here in the Americas.  I hope that your day went well or is going well, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.

Today we turn to an article written by the late Dr. Ralph Montanus (1919-1986), founder of the Gospel Association for the Blind, entitled "The Book That Differs From All Others," rendered as follows:

The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., which is the largest in the world, has hundreds of thousands of books written by countless authors.

The New York Public Library, located on 42nd Street, comprising several stories, is the second largest in the world and contains well over four million volumes of books.  With all the millions of volumes they have, written by as many authors, there is no book in the world that can compare with the Bible.

The Bible differs from every other book in a number of ways:

1.  The Bible differs from every other book in its transforming power.  Men and women from Maine to California can bare testimony to this fact.  Helpless alcoholics can tell how, when everything else failed, God's Word, the Bible, transformed their lives.  Hopeless dope addicts can tell, with a voice filled with emotion, how that, when society could not help, when reformation failed, God's Word succeeded.  The criminal, the harlot, the profane man, all can tell you how God's Word has a transforming power to make the thief honest, the immoral pure, and give the hopeless a purpose for life.  Look where you may, search as diligently as possible, and you will never find a greater source of God's transforming power than is found in God's Word, the Bible.

2.  The Bible differs from every other book in its comfort-giving power.  While men bask in the sunlight of blessing, you may rest assured that the storm clouds of tragedy will become their portion sooner or later.  Sickness, bereavement, standing before the open grave, all become a time when the philosophies of man utterly fail.  However, the comforting power of God's Word in hours like these will never fail.

3.  The Bible differs from every other book in its joy-giving power.  "In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand are pleasures forever more" (Psalm 16:11).  How unhappy many human hearts are.  Though in the natural state there are many resources to draw upon, yet despondency, insanity, and suicide all are on an alarming increase.  We find utter boredom with life in the midst of the greatest entertainment era in the history of our nation.  Why? The radio, television, movies and play-lands of all types--still real joy, satisfying joy, is missing.  There is one Book, and one Book alone, that can produce genuine joy.  That Book has a unique joy-giving power which it will impart to the believing heart.  It is the Holy Bible.

4.  The Bible differs from every other book in its wisdom-giving power.  "The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple" (Psalm 119:130).  While men may know in their wisdom all about the rainfall of Brazil, or the astronomical distances between stars, or the mysteries of atomic energy, yet, all of these things are materialistic and temporal.  The wisdom that God's Word imparts leads to eternal life.  The wisdom that God reveals in His Word is eternal in its quality.  This is the reason the Psalmist cried out, "O Lord, give me understanding according to Thy Word" (Psalm 119:169).  If you want real wisdom the type that deals with the eternal aspects of life, then feast upon God's Word.

5.  The Bible differs from every other book in its courage-giving power.  Man's apparent inability to deal with the problems of life can plainly be seen by the front page stories in our daily newspapers.  Recently we heard of a very prominent executive who was found weeping violently at his desk.  When asked by a fellow businessman if the problems of life were too big, he answered, through his tears, "I am too small to meet them.  The demands are too great, my ability insufficient." Only the man who is drawing life-giving courage from the Word of God is capable to meet the issues of life.  God's Word imparts courage to the fainting heart.  Heroes of the Christian Church would have been weaklings of the first order if it were not for the courage-giving power imparted to them by the Word of God.

My dear reader, if you want God's transforming, comforting, joy-giving, wisdom-giving and courage-giving power in your life, then begin immediately to set aside for the reading and study of God's Word, the Holy Bible.

And there you have it for today.  Dr. Montanus mentioned that the Library of Congress is the largest one in the world.  Not too many years ago I had a chance to visit that Library, living only 40 miles or 64 kilometers northeast of Washington, D.C.  As you either climb the steps or take the elevator to the second floor just off the Great Hall on the ground floor, the first thing you encounter is a glass case and, behind the glass, are two books: an intact copy of the Gutenburg Bible from 1456 and, next to it, the Great Bible of Mainz, Germany, with its eye-catching illustrations written shortly after Johann Gutenburg printed his Bible.  And, go figure: The Library of Congress is a part of our Federal government, so where is the separation of church and state in this matter? Oh well.  And at the entrance of the main building of the above library known as the Jefferson Building, there is a verse carved in stone from the book of Micah, but I don't recall what that is.  Just thought you'd all like to know these things.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul