I’ll never forget when my confidence in God’s Word was put to the test as a young preacher. I was the pastor of First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, Fla, and to my amazement, I found myself in a meeting with leaders from my denomination debating whether or not the Bible was the Word of God.
One by one the moderator asked us to share our positions on this issue, and I was shocked and saddened as I heard the comments from many of my peers. They had doubts, they said, about the trustworthiness of the Bible.
It was almost my turn when I felt a surge of anxiety rush through my system. What was I going to say? When, at last, all eyes were on me, I decided to keep it simple—and true. “The Bible is the Word of God!”
All were silent as my words hung in the air, but then the pastor sitting next to me piped up. “You mean the Bible contains the words of God,” he said. I couldn’t believe my ears. “No,” I said, “I mean the Bible is the Word of God.”
There is a subtle but strong difference between those two beliefs. Does the Bible merely contain some of God’s words? Or is the Bible the Word of God? Many modern ways of understanding and interpretation say the Bible is a vehicle for God’s truth instead of it being God’s truth itself.
But this doesn’t square with the apostle Paul’s validation in 2 Timothy 3:16, which says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness….” The Bible is the Word of God. That’s not something believers should debate. It’s settled right here in the Scripture itself!
I remember reading awhile back how the great evangelist Billy Graham once struggled with this truth. Recalling when he made the decision to accept the Scripture’s reliability, Reverend Graham said this:
When I accepted the Bible as the authoritative Word of God by faith, I found immediately that it became a flame in my hand. That flame began to melt away unbelief in the hearts of many people and to move them to the side for Christ.
I found that I did not have to rely upon cleverness, or oratory, or psychological manipulation, apt illustrations or striking quotations from famous men. I began to rely more and more upon the Scripture itself and God blessed it….
Every single person on the planet is hungry to hear the Word of God, even if they don’t realize it. We long for something solid to stand on in a wobbling and wavering world. So today, if it feels like your world is wavering and wobbling—open God’s authoritative Word and read it. Pray it. Memorize it. When you do, I promise God will speak directly to your heart and give you the security and strength you need!
If it feels like your world is wavering and wobbling—open God’s authoritative Word and read it. Pray it. Memorize it.
