I like to read.
Anything!
The back of the Mars bar that I shouldn’t be eating, the small print of the contractual agreement of the credit card application that I am not even going to fill in and even the information that you recieve about dietary requirements of the latest banned health craze.
I like to read!
However, it’s amazing when reading the Bible, I miss words out. My eyes register the word and yet my mind chooses that it isn’t that important. You know the words I mean: the small, insignifianct words.
and.
the.
is.
then.
If I am going to learn then I am to develop the ability to dig deep into the small, insignificant words. If God decided that the words on the page were important enough to be there, then they must carry an important message.
Psalm 144 is a great psalm. One of huge importance to us as the leadership of this community named Bethel, one of essential importance to us as we embark on building a church that effects the generations to come.
The psalm talks about our ’sons’ being like well nurtured plants; our ‘daughters’ being like pillars that adorn a palace.
We are believing that our numerical strength will be strong enough that our city has to respond to the influence we carry, Psalm 144 carries this as it states that ‘our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields’.
It talks of ‘no more cry of distress in our streets’. We want that in our city!
Yet Psalm 144 remains impotant if we dismiss the ’small, insignificant’ words.
‘Then’ (v12) shows us what is required if we will see great things realised. Psalm 144:1-11 need to take place ‘then’ we will see the reality of our dreams.
‘Small, insignificant’ words or ‘linch pin, gateway’ words. These provide the revelation and insight required to bring scripture alive in the 21st century. The Bible isn’t merely stories of ancient greats or therioes that have now been left being by church for the latest leadership journal.
Scripure is absolutely the way forward!
And the key to learning is to ensure the importance of ‘then’
