SCRIPTURES: EARTH'S HOPE BOOK

       Earth’s Hope Book

Scriptural reading: Rom 15:4 – “for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

Further reading: 2 Tim. 3:15-16, Rom. 4:23-24

GOD’S BIOGRAPHY TO YOU

The conversation that encouraged me.

It was exactly 6:09pm on Friday evening when I came back to church. I was not expecting anything spectacular or supernatural to happen as I would have expected to be the first man on the moon. I have been in church since the morning of that day but left few minutes to the said time so that I can change my clothes because of a call I received from a distant friend to reach out to her beloved whose line was not going through at the moment. When I came back to church I met my resident Pastor and the conversation that encouraged me started.

Me: Ah dear Pastor, what brought you to church?
Pastor: I came to remove this backdrop. It is no longer attractive. It looks like coverings for prayer houses.
Me: (I smiled) But I like it o. So, what will be the covering? A new one?
Pastor: No. Not yet. I will keep the dark blue covering. That one is better.

Since, I did not understand what he was saying and I did not want to go further in the converse, what I was contemplating in the morning came to my mind.

Me: I may be going for weekend dear Pastor. I have not settled it yet in my mind but I may.
Pastor: Ah, today? That means you will not join prayers tonight.
Me: Da! I am not settled in Calabar yet o. I am still gathering myself.
Pastor: I know.
Me: It is only God that knows what I have endured since I came in three months ago. I need everything to be fine as soon as possible.
Pastor: It is well. Open to Romans 15:4.
Me: Let me read it immediately.

When I read that verse of the Bible, I started shouting and praising God for His voice I have just heard as revealed by His servant, the Pastor through His word. That is one good thing about the word of God. It speaks to encourage, comfort, and edify you. At the end of the conversation, I knew again that my case was not impossible.

Seeing the lives of people in Scriptures from beginning to the end; seeing how they started small, some with nothing to sustain them but a bottle of water and a loaf of bread, others literally leaving their families to another location, miles from where they were, etc. and still ended great, living fulfilled lives, I was more than encouraged in my own life’s walk. It is from that standpoint the inspiration for this writing came.

I desire that this writing will make you search the Scriptures for yourself. May the discipline; the staying power to search God’s word for yourself until you develop powerful sights for a changed life come upon you now in Jesus name!

The first thing that captured my attention was: for whatsoever things were written aforetime…

The Bible is a collection of inspired writings – 2 Tim. 3:16. In fact, the word scripture is from the Greek word graphe which means a document or a writing. God in His wisdom, knowing the state of things on the face of the earth, how because of the fall, toils, sufferings, hardships and much labours will be the order of the day, took it upon Himself to inspire men to write right words and chronicle the accounts and lives of people who succeeded despite all odds.

The scripture talks about Jesus but it contains biographies of men and women who faced challenges when there was nothing but to move; when there was nothing but to eat what they had and prepare for death; when there was nothing but to look forward to the cold hands of death.

A perfect example is Abraham. We will hear about him later. For what purpose? Why was it written? The next words answered us – for our learning. For your learning.

Who would have thought that we can learn from the Bible? I thought it was for reading, admiring and as a symbol of our faith alone. God is awesome! The Scripture was written so that we can learn. The actual rendering in the Bible speaks of it as an Instructor; a Master.

The scripture was written to be your Instructor or Master. It was written to give you instructions on how to live the God kind of life. Having gone through this life from the beginning to the end, it has received credibility to teach earth’s men and women what it takes to go through it themselves. Who is a Teacher? Who is a Master?

A person who knows your experience and can tell you what to do to come out of it having gone through something similar himself. He is in the right position to instruct, guide, teach, correct, reprove and help you. That is what the Scripture is.

Going further, I asked myself, but why? The scripture was written for my learning. Yes, but why? The next statement gave me more light – that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures. There is a kind of patience and comfort that is being developed in the student who has given himself to the study of Scriptures; to be under it and to be mastered by it. The Scripture is a living Book. It is full of life. Its writings were inspired; were breath forth. The characters are not fictional or the imaginaries of its writers. Through historical studies, the names, locations, habits and cultures of the characters therein can be verified. So, it is not talking about something abstract.

There is something in scriptures that is akin to your situation.

A single or a collection of scriptures can paint a picture of your circumstance and instruct you on how to go about it. The word patience connotes an ability that is developed by staying under or remaining under the word of God as you go through a particular challenge(s). You take the word of God about a specific situation(s) and you stay under or hide yourself in it until victory is experienced. That is patience. And it is so beautiful because not only will it develop a staying power in you but it will comfort you. It will comfort you while you stay under God’s word until the storm abates and the dark cloud rolls away. Glory.

But there is an end to it. The end is that you might have hope. You see, your hope is very important. Your ability to expect in all boldness and confidence that you will come through to victory; that you will triumph over life’s battles; that you will see the goodness of the Lord for your life; that God’s promises will surely come through is very important. Thus, the Scriptures come to us as an Instructor telling us that what you are going through is but for a moment; that someone in Mesopotamia by name Abraham experienced the same thing and he came out victorious; that it was not easy at first because of surrounding issues – a barren wife, famine in the land, no place to settle down with his family let alone bury them when any dies, etc. – but when things were contrary to his hope, his expectation and what I told him, he still believed in hope and it was counted to him for righteousness. There were times I took him out at night and showed him the stars. I told him to count it if he could. I also took him to the river bank and told him to count the number of sand grains. I was comforting him in developing patience so that his hope can be kept alive and active. At the end, he came out victorious. Look to him as your earthly father for an example. I have other men and women whom I have helped. You can check them out. There is Job, Jabez, Gideon, Jephthah, David, etc. There are many of. Learn from them. Nothing is eternal apart from me – Scripture. Every other thing sinks with time. If you stay under me, you will both develop patience and be comforted to lay hold of your hope, the hope, the joy, the goal, the glory I have set before you.

    Search the Scriptures

Friends, I do not know what you going through. It may be the worse of the worst cases. I can assure you that if you can find time and go through your Bible; making little efforts to find your kind in it, in not time you will be comforted to still look forward. Against all hope, believe in hope, and you will never be disappointed.