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NASB | Psalm 95:10 "For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Psalm 95:10 "For forty years I was grieved and disgusted with that generation, And I said, 'They are a people who err in their heart, And they do not acknowledge or regard My ways.' |
Bible Question:
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This may not be a proper Study Bible Forum question for discussion, but I'll leave that up to you: What's the difference, if any, between loving God's word, the Holy Bible, and loving God? I'm of the opinion that there's none, because all we know of God is found in or "by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture." God is what His word says He is. How can one love God and hate His word. Or, conversely, how can one hate God and love His word? Further, does the word itself make a distinction between loving God and loving his word? Jesus says, "If you love me you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15) Heb 3:10 "THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, 'THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS'; (the writer of Hebrew citing Psalm 95:10) |
Bible Answer: I wrote the last response some several days ago, but I did not post it for fear it might discourage someone. I thought about it again today as I met with a couple. These people love the Lord; it was the main topic of their session. The evidence was the fact they were willing to obey the Lord. And yet, one of their major complaints was the fact they do not spend time with their Bibles. In other words, they want to love the word of God, but they don’t. I hope this does not confuse anyone. Please think about it before responding. There are some people who love the Lord but belong to a denomination where Bible knowledge is not emphasized. They believe that God speaks to them directly, and they are devoted to following what they believe is the Lord’s leading. They do not see the need to verify everything in the written word. They carry a Bible and read it in a cursory manner. They do not intend to get deeply into anything in it. They do not see the need for it. On the other hand, there are people who place a high importance on Bible knowledge. However, they leave a question as to their love for the Lord, as they do not place that high a premium on obeying it. They hear from time to time that God is not so much interested in what we know as he is in how well we put into practice what we know (1 Corinthians 8:1). But they cast that aside. They enjoy studying the word of God so much they confuse it with loving God. Imagine the lady in the story told by ‘meusing’ (above) spending all the time with her husband’s book but very little time with him, and you get the point. If you do not get the point from that, imagine a person spending a lot of time with the Bible but very little time in prayer. It happens. Imagine a person who has deep theoretical knowledge about love, but shows no love. Paul talks about him in 1 Corinthians 13:2. Both camps will profess a real love for both the Bible and the Lord, but they may love them in very different measures. Some love the Bible in sentimental way. They idolize and almost worship the book, and yet that “love” may lead them to take such good care of it that they make sure it is not marked or worn out or even opened too often. They prefer to talk about “the Bible” rather than about anything it says in particular. Some others know Bible things in minute detail, but cannot relate the facts to the nature of God or what he requires of us. They do not see the purpose of the word of God as expressed in Deuteronomy 29:29 or Jeremiah 9:23,24. It is one of the great tasks of the church, perhaps, to bring those two camps together. Those who love the word need to relate more closely to the author, and those who love the author need a better appreciation for knowledge of his word. We make a mistake to assume that the both are inseparable, or that one is indispensable to the other. It is not correct to say that everything we can know about God is in the Bible, or that we can know nothing about God except through the Bible. Surely those who know the Bible know that the Bible itself makes no such claim, but that in fact it tells us otherwise (2 Samuel 1:18, Psalm 19, Romans 1, John 20, 2 Corinthians 12, Colossians 4:16). Those who love the Lord should learn to love his word, whether to read it or to hear it, and we should love each other. Those things go together well, but they are not identical. |