When I was a young Christian, the pastor of my church often said that Scripture needs to be interpreted with Scripture. A believer must not simply take the word of a teacher or preacher nor should we take Scripture out of context. We should examine the Scriptures, the whole of Scripture, to make sure we are not led astray. This became a cornerstone of my walk with Christ and established very early on a love for the written Word of God.
In my current Bible study (To Live Is Christ by Beth Moore), a recent lesson was on this very thing. The key passage was from Acts 17:11 which says:
“Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” (NASB95)
Toward the end of the lesson, Beth wrote:
When we’ve learned to examine the Scriptures for ourselves, we have a few things nailed down when life starts to rock. I cannot express to you how studying God’s Word has helped me when the earth around me seemed to quake. At times when everything seemed to fall apart in my life, the Word abiding in me kept me from falling apart with them.
Then she asked:
What is at least one Scripture or biblical concept you’ve nailed down that has kept you from toppling when everything around you seemed to rock?
Wow! Important question. Right now, the whole world seems to be rocking, doesn’t it? The stock market falling again. Unemployment high. Governments in chaos. Riots. Wars and rumors of war. And of course, my own little personal world did quite a bit of rocking over the past year or two: broken ankle, losing my mom, having cancer.
So how did I answer Beth’s question about what is nailed down in my life? The first two that popped into my head were:
“His grace is sufficient” (2 Cor 12:9) and “The joy of the Lord is my strength” (Neh 8:10).
I could have continued on if I’d had more time and the space to write the answers. An examination of the lessons learned through my life and the faithfulness of God (both when life is smooth and when life is rocky) would produce lots of answers. A long, long list of them. But the workbook only gave me two short lines to fill in so I stopped with the above.
Now I’m curious. How would you answer Beth’s question? What Scripture or biblical concept have you nailed down that has kept you from toppling when everything around you seems to rock? Don’t think about it too long. Share your first impression, the answer that popped into your head immediately.
~robin
