Day 221, or August the 9th.
God's Word is indestructible.
Our thoughts today are rooted in Jeremiah chapter 36 verse 23.
Whenever Jehudae had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with
a scribe's knife and threw them into the fire-pot, until the entire scroll was burned
in the fire.
Now the big picture surrounding this verse.
Before Jerusalem falls to Nebuchadnezzar's army, God gives an important task to Jeremiah.
He is to write down a message from God for King Zedekiah.
It's been ten years since the last godly king ruled Judah, and his name was Josiah.
Since then three godless kings had reigned, and now Zedekiah was to be the last one to
rule before he himself would be removed and taken into Babylonian exile.
It would be the end of a pretty poor line, most of whom rejected the god of their ancestors,
and adopted the paganism of their neighbours.
When it all goes wrong, and prophets such as Jeremiah tell them to mend their ways,
they refuse, but simply complain that God has deserted them.
Jeremiah tells them that they are worse than some faithful Gentiles in the city, who obey
the commands of their dead father, whilst the Jews refuse to obey the word of the living
God.
And now today's action step.
Zedekiah dismisses God's word by burning it piece by piece.
It's interesting that he uses a scribe's knife to cut the scroll.
It's as though using something that is seen as holy makes the deed appear okay.
It didn't destroy the whole scroll all at once, but piece by piece.
Sadly, this has happened to the Bible, too.
It hasn't been doubted by society, but by those who represent the church, which should
revere it.
If the Bible ceases to be the foundation for our beliefs, we are at the mercy of scholarly
opinions, and that makes me shudder.
Care to share my personal default position?
The Bible is right until it is conclusively proved inaccurate, and it never has been to
my satisfaction, or millions of others who believe it is the Word of God.