Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 160, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1917 — The Devotional Use of the Bible [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Devotional Use of the Bible

By REV. HOWARD W. POPE

Moody Bible Institute, Chicago

TEXT—Give us this day our daily bread. —Matt. 6:11.

How one shall read the Bible depends largely on what he is reading

It for. The Bible is an all-around book and serves many purposes, but it is well to ha v e in mind some definite purpose in all one’s reading. All stringed instruments quickly get out of tune. The action of the atmosphere and • constant vibration in playing, relax the tension of the strings so that they need to be

tuned very often. No matter how good the violin is, it needs to be tuned every day, and often many times a day. Man is like a violin. He soon gets out of tune with God. The wear and tear of life, and the demoralizing atmosphere which sin creates, so affects his disposition that he ne:*ls to be brought into harmony with God every morning. It is not surprising, when we consider the subtlety of sin, and the weakness of the flesh, rather it is Strange that a harp of a thousand strings. Should keep sh tune so long. Nothing will bring the believer into touch with God so soon as a little taste of the divine Word. For devotional purposes the psalms are perhaps the best reading, because they cover so wide a range of experience. Here we find aspiration and confession, joy and sorrow, adoration and praise. Here we behold the calm CSnfidence which grows out of a sublime faith: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Again we meet the bitter anguish w r hich comes from ingratitude, or unrequited love, or The ecstasy of sin forgiven, or the passionate plea for mercy as in the fifty-first psalm, or the shout of triumph, in the thirty-sec-ond psalm. It is doubtful if there Is any experience in life for which we cannot find a duplicate In the psalter, and, noting how the man after God’s own heart behaved in similar emergencies, we are unconsciously led into the same feeling.

Morning and Eventide. In the morning read the nineteenth psalm and at eventide the eighth psalm. If you are going on tt journey, Psalm 21 is appropriate. If in per-,, plexity, read Psalm 37. If you are grateful, choose Psalm 105, or 106, or Psalm 107. If your heart needs searching, read Psalm 139, which begins with the words,. “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me,” and after a sublime description of God’s omniscience, closes with the prayer that only an honest heart can utter: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and l#nd me in the way everlasting.” If it is comfort you need, you will find it in abundance in Psalms 34, 91 and 103. The Gospels are also excellent for devotional reading because there we come in contact with the words and works of Jesus. We see how he lived in the home and by the wayside, in the carpenter's shop, and by the open grave. We see him in public life and in private' ministry always the same, never hurried, never worried, always thinking of others and never of himself. * We see him playing with the children, watching the birds on the trees, the growing grain and the fading flowers. In everything he saw God’s love and care, and from all things natural he drew some spiritual lessons. The epistles are especially helpful to the mature Christian as revealing the relation of the believer to his fellow man; to thf,. church, the state, and the perishing world. How Long. ■ls it be asked how much one should read at a time for devotional purposes, let me answer with an illustration. I once saw a picture of the disciples on the way to Emmaus. The Master has just left them and the two men are looking at each other in glad astonishment. One of them is holding both hands over his heart as he says with rapture. “Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?” He can almost feel his heart burn still as he recalls the memory of that blessed walk. If you ask how long one shall read his Bible for devotional purposes, I answer, “Read until your heart burns and your soul thrills with the consciousness of God’s approval.” The Morning Watch. George Muller’s testimony regarding the morning watch Is very valuable: “The first thing a child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his soul. And what Is food for the soul? Not prayer, but the Word of God; not the simple reading of the Word, so that it passes through our minds as water runs throqgh ai pipe, but considering what we read*, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts. When we pray, we speak to God. When we read the MM* God •peaks to us.”