every word -- part 3

The Word for today:
Deuteronomy 8

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

“Why do we study the Bible?”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Where does it take me?”

When I’m asked those questions, I start at Deuteronomy chapters 6-8 for the answers. Since that is where we are, we’ve stopped to field those questions, one at a time.

A couple days ago, we asked "Why?"

Yesterday, we asked "What?"

Today, we'll ask "Where?"

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“Where does Bible study take me?”

The process is mystical (1) and I struggle for the words to explain it, but as you continue to immerse yourself in the Word of God, you will gradually become one with it. You will identify with it until you are identical to it:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. (2 Corinthians 3:18; cf. 1 John 3:2)

Eventually you will echo and even personify the Word Himself. Scripture says it this way:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. (Romans 8:29)

So stay with it. If you do, if you act out Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (above) by continuously being engaged with Scripture, then as you change, God’s Word will begin to change.

You’ll be reading the same words, but you will comprehend them differently. A born-again, blood-tipped, Spirit-anointed (2) ear will eventually turn commandments into prophecies, and prophecies into promises:

Commandment: "You shall (must) love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength…"

Prophecy: "You shall (someday) love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength…"

Promise: "You shall--guaranteed!--love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."

Q. Guaranteed?

A. Absolutely:

And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deuteronomy 30:6/ESV)

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(1) See Mark 4:26-28; (2) See Leviticus 14:17, 25