Pastoral Musings

When I hear a rustling of leaves in the treetops, I do not say, “I hear the sound of the wind.” I say that I hear the wind.

If I stand before a mirror and my wife walks up behind me, I do not think, “I see the likeness of my wife.” I think, “There is my wife!”

As I listen to a recording of music, I do not say, “I heard the sound of a piano.” I say that I hear a piano.

So it is when I open my Bible. I do not simply read a record of man’s experience with God. I encounter God. Neither do I see words on a page alone, but I hear the voice of God. Thus I hear God. He speaks to me in His Word.

Therefore, away with the scoffer who wishes to tell me that God is imperfectly present with me. Away with the liberal idea that God is speaking to me via untruths, when He is omnipresently and omnipotently speaking absolutely truthfully.

And woe to those who dare to speak so disrespectfully as to say that I worship my Bible! I worship it not. I do, however, worship the One who speaks to me in the Scriptures and whose presence is thus mediated to me through that Word.

When I open my Bible and believe that it is unfailingly true, I honor the God who speaks therein, for He is true.