Wipe the Dust Off

I am falling in love all over again with scripture.  I'm finding that I'm easily disgruntled, discouraged, or guilty when it comes to the interpretations of scripture (i.e., books that people write - Christian bookstores are enormous these days, no?).  I find I'm often subject to attempts of mass conviction.  And to be honest, an unfamiliar writer somewhere in the world trying to amp up my faith and tell me what we all do wrong and (hence) what I'm doing wrong?  Bogus.  I must admit, there are plenty of edifying books out there.  I could just eat up C.S. Lewis and Don Miller.  But I find the writers that lift you up are few and far between. 

 

But when I read scripture ... oh when I read scripture!

 

I am edified.  I am lifted up and filled to my brim.  I am enticed, and engaged, and even when I'm convicted, it's from a place of love and encouragement to the point where changing is exactly what I want to do.  What a concept!  To go back to the source is proving incredible.  Even delving the background, the history, the lineages is so refreshing.  I've started again at the beginning - the book of Genesis - and the answers are coming together.  The kind of person Cain was and the choices he made.  The necessity of Seth's existence.  The patriarchs leading up to Noah and the kind of fathers that they were.  The complete orchestration of the flood and what kind of phenomenon that was.  Have you ever seen streams come out of the sky and the barriers of the sea broken?  When reading this living and active Word, I see who God is.  In reading the story of our history, I see His face and His energies.  To nitpick the details is not to just gain scriptural background and history, it's to see the work of God, and to see His character through His actions.  It's to fear Him and respect Him.  Scripture, being living and active, seems to encourage in us a right (yet not complete) understanding and perspective of the Creator of the universe.  Want to know who God is?  Read His book.  The work, the curiosities, the questions answered and the infinitely more obtained are all worth it. 

 

Boom.