TOZER DEVOTIONAL

TOZER DEVOTIONAL
Mon, April 03, 2017
The Discipline of Personal Bible Study
The boast that the Bible is the world's best seller sounds a little hollow when the character and purpose of the Bible are understood.


It is not how many Bibles are sold that counts, nor even how many people read them; what matters is how many actually believe what they read and surrender themselves in faith to live by the truth. Short of this the Bible can have no real value for any of us.


A great deal is said, and rightly said, about the superiority of the Bible as literature. So beautiful are the words of prophet and psalmist, as well as those of our Lord and His apostles, that they can scarcely be made less than beautiful, even by the clumsiest translator. Speaking any word here in praise of the beauty of the Authorized Version (the one usually selected to be ''read as literature'') would be to gild the lily or set a candle to the sun, so I refrain. But to study the Scriptures for their literary beauty alone is to miss the whole purpose for which they were written.

Verse
''For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.''
Ezra 7:10

Thought
Ezra devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD. It is good to read the Bible, to hear accurate Bible teaching. But are we studying the Bible for ourselves and observing it? Is personal Bible study a daily discipline?

Prayer
What a treasure, Lord, to have access to Your Word in my language. To have innumerable resources available to aid in understanding the Word. May I cultivate the daily discipline of personal Bible study.