Daily Devotional

I was in the Chicago area, teaching a community-wide conference. During one of the sessions, a distraught woman approached me and asked, “Dr. Cecy, can you recommend a book for me? My life is falling apart.” I handed her my Bible. She handed it back to me and said, “No, no, I mean a current book that can really address my problems.” I handed her my Bible. At this point she was insistent, “Can’t you recommend a book that will really help me—maybe one that you’ve written?” Do you know how hard it was to not take that dear woman’s credit card and fund my ministry with the sale of a pile of my materials?

However, she did not need my books. She needed the Only Book—the Book of Books—the Word of God—the Holy Scriptures—the Sword of the Spirit—the Hammer of Justice—the Word of Truth—the Lamp unto our Feet—the Light unto our Path—the Word of Life. She needed the Bible—every one of those sixty-six life-changing books, 1,189 character-building chapters, 31,173 Spirit-led verses, and some 800,000 God-breathed words (depending on which version). She needed that marvelous love letter from God to man, written in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) by forty different authors (shepherds, judges, priests, kings, prophets, tax-collectors, physicians, etc.) from three different continents (Asia, Africa, Europe) over a period of 1600 years. And God wanted her—as He wants every one of us—to become masters of all it contains!

From the lips of the wise King Solomon, we are told:
“The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails, they are given by one Shepherd” (Ecclesiastes 12:11).

And from the pen of the great apostle Paul, we are challenged:
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation