“O Give Me That Book”

Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Proverbs 1:7 NLT)

John Wesley said these words, “I have thought I am creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God and returning to God; just hovering over the great gulf, till a few moments hence I am no more seen. I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven–how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way: for this very end he came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God! I have it. Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri [a man of one book].”

There it is. There are mornings when I look at the book in my hand and shiver. This book is the very word of God! This book tells me all I need to know about the meaning of life and the way to live. Oh, by no means is all knowledge contained there. Wesley knew that perfectly well. He read many other books, and he encouraged his traveling preachers to carry bags of books to sell to their hearers for a few pennies. But it is this book which tells us how to read all the others.

This is what the proverb quoted above means. When I get my relationship with the Creator of the Universe straight (I’m not God, he is, and I am accountable to him for what I do with this inestimable gift of life he has given me.), then I will know what to do with all the knowledge that God has made available to us.

But it is the Word – the Word – that must shape our lives. Unless that book shapes us, then we are all out of shape. We do things that cause God to shake his head. That’s what “abomination” or “detestable” refers to – something that is just contrary to the way God made the world. A crooked scales is an abomination (Pr 20:23). The fact is, a pound is a pound, whatever the scales say. That’s what the Word says. Are you soaking yourself in the Book? If not, why not?