Happy Good Friday, everyone–
One of my brothers in the faith, from Pennsylvania, mind you, will recognize this verse instantly, as he has mentioned in many Bible studies that it is his favorite verse:
"my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." [Hosea 4:6a] So if a lack of knowledge is destructive, than the solution must be, by definition, more knowledge. More knowledge is the goal of his class, of my emails, and of sermons brought by preachers of the Word. And I’m not talking about trivial knowledge, like: How many words are in the Bible? I’m more interested in Godly knowledge, in truthful knowledge, in information that leads to wisdom. Here is a verse I pray over virtually every time I open the Bible:
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously
to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." [James 1:5] So where does this knowledge reside? My answer is: the Bible, because it has proven itself over and over again. Besides the literally hundreds of verses that you can live by, or that provide comfort, the simple fact that there are about 1000 prophecies provides all the proof I need. For example:
"Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.'Do you see all these things? he asked. 'I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.'" [Matthew 24:1-2] And about 40 years later, this prophecy from Jesus was fulfilled completely when the Romans did not leave one stone upon another in 70 A.D. It makes one excited about the truthfulness of the other 999 prophecies in the Word, does it not?
Do you want more knowledge so that we, as a people, are not destroyed?
You can hold it in your hands.
Blessings, and Happy Easter,
–Keith