(Hos 4:6) 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.'
We just returned from three weeks of ministry in India. One of our sad discoveries was the lack of knowledge of the Word among the people of God. And we must add, that this is not peculiar to Indians! We have found it to be a problem with the church at large.
Don’t get us wrong. It’s not an inability to quote scripture. It’s not a shortage of sermon’s preached or heard. It’s not a hindrance to attending church. It’s not even illiteracy.
It’s just a plain failure to spend time in the simple reading of God’s Word.
In a day when Bibles are available in almost every conceivable language and in almost unlimited quantities and affordable prices, it is sad to find believers who have been born again for years who have never read the bible through from cover to cover even once!
It takes no more than 10 minutes to read even the longest chapter in the bible. If one were to read 3 chapters a day that would work out to be a half hour. And at 3 chapters a day, the entire bible will be completed in one year!
Jesus said, "What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? (Mat 26:40)
It is amazing that believers spend hours in intercession, worship, listening to messages and reading religious books. Yet for a half hour daily in the Word, we do not have the time. And mind you, often Pastors and Leaders are just as, if not more guilty.
Perhaps we look at reading the Bible as just reading.
John 1:1 says, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’. Then in John 1:14 he says, ‘...the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory...’
We fail to understand that spending time in the Word is spending time with God himself! Being in the Word is being in Jesus.
The church went into idolatry and corruption when the it put aside the Word of God. But that was a time when the masses were illiterate and so excused. What is our excuse now?
Jesus said to the Pharisees, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains”. (Joh 9:41)
(Hos 4:6) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
Heavenly Father, forgive me for taking Your Word for granted. May I be even more diligent to seek Your Word daily. May Your Word fill my heart and mind and guide me in all I do each day. In Jesus’ name I ask and pray, amen.
