Deuteronomy 11:18-22, “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth. For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, . . .”

2 Timothy 3:14-17, You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

It Never Grows Old

The poet Wallace Stevens was inspired to write thirty-three meditations on The Man with a Blue Guitar, each a different interpretation of the painting.

General George Custer spoke in awe of the seemingly endless central plains, echoing the feelings of numerous travelers as far back as Coronado’s explorations: The plains were a series of undulating hills, like stationary waves of a vast sea; they rolled in endless procession to infinity.

All who study the Bible experience a similar wonder. The Word seems so simple, but it has the deceptive depth of clear water. Its apparent message to us, while very true, is soon multiplied by other messages, just as true and complementing the first. God gave us a book that has never changed since written, yet it continues to yield new insights as we mature spiritually.

Even if you study all your life through every book of the Bible, whey you finish you will say with Joseph Parker (after twenty-five years of preaching from every text of the Bible) that you are essentially at the first chapter, the first verse of Genesis – you have yet to begin.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley copyright © 1995 by Word, Incorporated. Used by permission.

*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.