Just a Book?

Journal Entry // September 25, 2022

Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. (ESV)

2 Kings 22:10

This passage of Scripture has captured my thoughts today as I have been contemplating the reality that the people of God had lost their way to such a degree that not only did they not read the Book of the Law and have it as the central focus of their worship, but it had been in disuse for so long that it was not even recognizable. The priest in this story recognized that this was the Book of the Law when he discovered it, but the secretary who brought it before the king only offered it up as a book. As if this Book of the Law was just another book in the library of the temple and of no significance. My thoughts today have been focused on the potential for this becoming a reality in my life. Will I become so wrapped up in my day-to-day life that the things of God become just an add-on to living? Will the Book of the Law merely be just another book that may or may not have importance to my life? These are important questions that I need to ponder and reflect on daily.

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Easy Answers

Journal Entry // September 5, 2022

This is a light thing in the sight of the LORD. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, (ESV)

2 Kings 3:18

There are so many instances of the Lord providing miraculous answers to prayers and requests that they seem to wash over me as I read through both the Old and New Testaments. The miracles that are presented in the Word of God are plentiful enough but I seem to have lost my sense of wonder and amazement at them all. I don’t know if it’s because I have read these stories multiple times and they have become expected and therefore ordinary or if I have let a modern mindset creep into my head and bring with it a bit of skepticism and doubt. As I contemplate this thought I begin to think it is more of a lack of faith on my part. I read about these amazing miracles in the Bible and I am encouraged to see the ways that God provides for his people but then I think upon my own heart and feel that same old doubt creep in. Not that I doubt God can still provide, but I doubt that he will provide particularly for me in a specific and particular answer.

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