With an estimated 6 billion copies sold, the Bible is the world’s best-selling book. The average American owns three or four copies of the Bible. In a 2012 survey, however, 18 percent of churchgoers revealed that they rarely or never read the Bible, and 22 percent said they did so just once a month. Only 19 percent said they read the Bible every day. Lamar Vest, President of the American Bible Society, said: “There are probably five Bibles on every shelf in American homes. Americans buy the Bibles . . . they just don’t read [them].”
As Moses prepared a new generation of God’s people to enter the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 1:3), he recounted their history in three sermons—helping them to learn from past failures and to recommit themselves to God.
Through the words of a song (Deuteronomy 32:1-4, 44-47), Moses reminded the people who God was: ”He is the Rock. . . . He is a faithful God” (Deuteronomy 32:4). Just as the rain and dew refresh tender grass and young plants, anyone who believed this teaching about who God is would be nourished and strengthened (Deuteronomy 32:1-2).
More than having them merely mouth God’s Word, Moses commanded the Jews to “take to heart all the words of warning” (Deuteronomy 32:46). They were to know God’s instruction so well that they could fully obey it. They were to teach it to their children so that the next generation would also know and obey it. “Pass [God’s words] on as a command to your children so they will obey every word of these instructions” (Deuteronomy 32:46).
It doesn’t matter how many copies of the Bible you own, but it’s vital that you read, know, and obey it. For its instructions “are not just idle words for you—they are your life” (Deuteronomy 32:47 NIV).
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Acts 5:17-42
More:
Read Psalm 119:1-16 to see the value of reading, knowing, and obeying God’s Word.
Next:
Outside of church services, how often are you reading the Bible? Why is it important that you feed on God’s Word every day?
Gary Shultz on October 14, 2014 at 7:12 am
How great it is that God has extended His love to us by His Word. His plan for us is life in Christ and with all that the Word can fill us. His Word never stops speaking, I hope we are reading it, I hope we are listening. Thank you.
angelinatan25 on October 14, 2014 at 8:35 am
I FULLY AGREE TO TODAY’S DEVOTION.
BIBLES SHOULD NOT BE A SHOWCASE TO SHOW OR PROOF OF…..
BUT, SHOULD BE READ, MEDITATED ON AS IN DEUTERONOMY… FOR THIS IS THE LIFE GOD DESIGN TO GIVE AND GUIDE US WITH – PEOPLE WHO CHERISH LIFE FROM HIS WORDS…AND LIFE’S MEANING, PURPOSE ON EARTH, WHILST WITH HOPE IN ETERNITY IN HEAVEN.
sercher on October 14, 2014 at 2:04 pm
Thank you, K.T, for bringing up this topic!
Over and over in the Bible we read God’s urge to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). We are to be active in whatever we do “in word or DEED” (Col.3:17). And yet, all too often we procrastinate when in is time to act or react.
Not that we completely ignore the Word, rather, we tend to take it lightly, forgetting that
“It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
Let’s take an active part in this wonderful process of hearing which means hearkening and acting on it!