Veroni's Views

YOU’RE IN THE BOOK! Warts and all, together with advice on how to handle what you are feeling.

Still under the heading “Built on the Foundation of Scripture” from my book on the Church.

THE BIBLE ADDRESSES EVERY HUMAN FEELING
The Bible does not only dwell on positive emotions like joy and happiness, but is realistic enough to address negative experiences of human beings. Examples are the following:
* Struggles of faith e.g. Psalms 73 “in vain have I kept my heart pure” when the wicked are always carefree (“Their eyes bulge with fat”!);
* Depression e.g. Psalms 31.9,10

Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
my soul and my body with grief.
My life is consumed by anguish
and my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my
affliction,
and my bones grow weak.

* Discouragement e.g. Psalms 69.1-3

Save me O God,
for the waters have come up to my
neck.
I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.

* Anger – in the book of Job.

Being God’s Word to us in all aspects of our lives, the Bible treats the subject of human love as very important. It contains some of the most beautiful love stories in the world, like that of Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel, David and Abigail. The Song of Songs is an unashamed account of love.

It has creative power

It says of itself that “The Word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4.12). It states that
“God calls things that are not as though they were” (Romans 4.17).

When we allow the Word of God as it appears in the Bible to be used by God, the result is always good things. For those who have given their lives to the Lord and truly try to serve Him, praying over the following Scripture will bring into realization the new life that God has given them: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5.17). Similarly, announcing the following verse over our lives in faith affirms and facilitates the process of transformation: “We…. are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3.18). Believing that “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8.37), often brings the victory!

I am not advocating the practice of using Scripture as a kind of verbal fetish or quoting it as magic words. What is true, though, is that the Word of God as contained in the Bible expresses truth so precisely and succinctly that we should allow it to formulate our thinking, and therefore also what we believe. Our prayers are transformed to become more like what God wants for us, and are therefore more easily answerable by God!

It is the Word of God

John 1.1 and .14 identify Jesus Christ as the Word of God. The One who is the Word of God became a human being and lived among human beings. But God in his great wisdom gave us a book which helps us to meet that Word of God, as someone once said: “Jesus comes to me out of the pages of the Bible” (Fritz Kemp)

No wonder the Bible addresses very human feeling, and gives God’s perspective on all of it.