"rightly dividing the word of truth"
2 Timothy 2:15
September 11th is on us again. For those of you outside the United States, I don't know if that date gives you pause. But for Americans, it's a day of remembering. I remember where I was when I heard the news of the terrorist attacks, and the first person I talked to. I remember going about my day that day in 2001, doing "normal" things, but with one eye on the TV all day, because it was anything but a "normal day".
I also remember the days that came after that. There was an increase in patriotism and religious fervor after September 11, and many times I heard 2 Chronicles 7:14 quoted ~ "if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves, pray, seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land." We were a land that desperately felt the need for healing, and this verse was on bumper stickers and t-shirts, as well as being heard in prayer.
That time of my life, those days ~ and that verse ~ changed the way I read the Bible.
I was unfamiliar with that verse, so I looked it up, to understand the context in which it was written. When I did so, I realized it was only half a sentence. The sentence begins in verse 13: "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, then, if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves, pray, seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land." (underlining mine)
The sentence, as a whole, speaks of when God causes a plague on people He loves, and how they should respond if they want Him to heal their land.
Now, I'm not saying that God caused the terrorists attacks. I'm not trying to say anything political. But I became very aware that I was only hearing half of God's sentence when I heard 2 Chronicles 7:14. And it make me think of other "half sentences" and it was the beginning of an entirely new way of reading and studying Scripture.
I think there are two basic mistakes people make when reading, remembering, or "claiming" Scripture. For purposes of this discussion, what I mean by claiming is a verse that gets in your heart. It becomes one you remember, and it guides you or changes you or fortifies you in some way. Hope that makes sense.
The first danger is claiming only half or part of a Scripture. For instance, John 3:16. Most people know the beauty of that verse: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son". Now that, in and of itself, is true. But the entire truth lies in the whole sentence, which includes: "... that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The completion of the verse changes what you need to know.
How about these:
"Christ is not risen"
"I am more stupid than any man"
"Your faith is futile"
"I can do all things"
"coals of the broom tree"
"I am a wall"
Those verses are all in the Bible. 1 Corinthians 15, Proverbs 30, Philippians 4, Psalm 120 and Song of Solomon 8. But they are words that could confuse, or even contradict if they are not read the way God intended.
In Math, the Transitive Property says that if A = B, and B = C, then A = C. When I was a kid, I once heard someone jokingly use this property illustrate that Ray Charles is God. He said, "God is love. And love is blind. Ray Charles is blind, so Ray Charles must be God." Now that's twisted truth!
The Word of God is our weapon; the sword of the Spirit, "living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." And like any weapon, we can injure someone ~ even ourselves ~ if we are not handling it correctly. God does not talk in sound bites.
Get the truth. But get the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
~ "I have treasured the words of His mouth
more than my necessary food" ~
Job 23:12
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