GOD IS IN THERE

Yesterday I was reading an e-mail from a preacher friend of mine. It was mostly just small talk about things he was doing in his ministry. Being a friend, I was interested. Suddenly it occurred to me that as I read his words, in my mind's imagination I was hearing the sound of his voice, even the particular way he inflects his words. I was seeing his face, the way he lifted his eyebrows and moved his mouth. Now this wasn't a rare, odd experience, I concluded as I thought about it. Whenever we read a correspondence from someone we know, his/her style and way of writing brings with it his/her very nature and being. It calls to our mind the person. We see and hear them through their words. That is in contrast to getting a letter from someone we don't know. I have never seen God physically nor literally heard His voice. But when I read His Word carefully the same thing happens as with my friend's e-mail. In my heart I hear and see the God behind the words, the One who wrote the Bible I read. His Word reveals Him. He is present in His Word. Bible reading is much more than learning historical facts about Bible times and places. It is more than learning the biographies of holy men, or marveling at their prophesies, poems, and psalms. Bible reading is even more than noting the teachings and doctrines it proclaims. Bible reading is hearing and seeing God. I could not separate my friend from his e-mail. He was in his writing. Likewise, God is present in His Word. A favorite song of many of us in the recent past was the one about the Bible that said, "Look, its in there-Right in the Word of God." True. But also true is, "Look, He's in there, Right in the Word of God."