What A Foundation!
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. Isaiah 40:8 (KJV)
Have you ever thought about how blessed we are to have the foundation of those who have gone before us to build upon? We have the benefit of the entire counsel of the Word of God- both the Old and New Testaments, plus a plethora of writings and teachings on God’s Word that were developed over the centuries. Consider the early church members. They only had the Old Testament; the various letters and gospel accounts of the New Testament were being written at the time. And think about the early patriarchs, such as Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. What they had was oral tradition; their spiritual history verbally passed down from one generation to the next. We are truly blessed to have the wealth of spiritual resources that we do.
Go to any Christian bookstore today- or even go online to Bible websites- and you will find an endless array of Bible versions and translations. I hope that we see the value of all of these opportunities to read, study, and dig out the deeper meaning of God’s Word. The early church saw God’s Word as valuable, passing the inspired writings of the Apostles from one church to the next to gain understanding and revelation. Even today, in certain parts of the world, the Bible is banned and Christians consider themselves overwhelmingly blessed to be able to read even a few pages of the Word, committing as much of it to memory as possible. We cannot lose sight of how precious it is to have such access to the Bible in America.
And I would be remiss if I did not mention the foundation we have from the centuries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, and others who spent endless hours in the Word to preach, teach, and write about the wonderful ways of God. We must not forget people like Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, Billy Sunday, Smith Wigglesworth, Kenneth Hagin, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, A.A. Allen, Maria Woodworth Etter, John G. Lake, Jack Coe, and many other ministers. And mention must be made of Martin Luther King Jr. and his impact on human rights by applying principles found in the Bible. And if we go back further, we could talk about the impact of men like George Whitfield who stoked the flames of revival in the American colonies. We could mention the significance of the pilgrims who came to our continent in search of religious freedom. We could speak at length of the contributions of people like Martin Luther, martyrs such as Joan of Arc, and go all the way back to the first apostles like Paul, Peter, and John. Can we overlook the people who painstakingly copied the scriptures so that it would remain intact throughout the ages? I could go on and on in mentioning the people to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude for the knowledge and revelation of God’s Word that we have today, but you get the idea.
So, go pick up your Bible, embrace it and hold it near your heart, and tell the Lord how thankful you are for the Scriptures, and for those who have gone before us in the faith. We are surely standing on the shoulders of many faithful stewards of the Word of God. How blessed we truly are!
