A compass defines true north. No matter how skilled or unskilled you are at determining your direction, your compass will show the way.
God’s truth in the Bible is your compass. Are you checking it regularly?
Storms come. Winds blow. Those are problems. The kids need braces. Your calendar is overcommitted. You are failing biology. You can’t get away from your devices. Politics is driving you crazy. Flu season is here again, waiting to derail you. These are blowing you off course. So what now?
Check your compass
The Bible is going to keep you on course even when the winds blow and detours deceive. Why? Because the Bible is God’s wind, stronger than any wind of this world or storm in your life. “All Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16).
I’m holding a kazoo. I want it to make music. What should I do? Wave it around? Bang it on my hand? No. Blow into it!
I push air through my lungs and lips into the kazoo, which gives it sound. Similarly, God pushes his own character and being into the Bible, breathing out his air into the very words of the Bible.
Verbal inspiration
Every word of the Bible is God’s Word. We use a term—verbally inspired—which means that God gave or guided every word of the Bible to its writers.
So all of the Bible is God speaking himself into you, speaking forgiveness, speaking hope, speaking life, speaking love, speaking answers to your prayers. It’s his breath.
Strong enough to create life in Adam who was just a pile of dirt.
Miraculous enough for the apostles to speak in unstudied foreign languages on Pentecost.
Forgiving enough for Jesus to breathe on his friends who had forsaken them and say, “Peace be with you.
Saving enough for Jesus on the cross to exhale one last time before dying and at that moment pay for the sins of the world.
Life-changing enough that three days later Jesus inhaled his first resurrected breath to live once again and promise that you will, too.
Is it windy in your life? Maybe it’s not a storm blowing you off course. It’s the breath of God calling you through his Word. “Follow me. Believe in me. Live the life that is truly life.”
PRAYER: Holy Spirit, giver of life and communicator of divine truth, speak through Scripture so that I understand more clearly, believe more passionately, and love more deeply. Draw my attention to your powerful promises, and take me to new places I’d never know on my own. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: Slow down and mediate through the PRAY acronym.
- Praise (tell God what you appreciate about his Word)
- Repent (tell God about your sins, trust in his promises of forgiveness)
- Ask (request that God give you more insight into his Word, and that you practice it)
- Yield (talk to God about the next step after you say “Amen,” how you want faith to lead the way, how you are willing to be part of his answer and see it develop for your good)