Scripture is the words of God to you. Open the Bible anywhere and the words there could be introduced with “the Spirit says” (Heb 3:7). These words are bread for our soul (Deut 8:3). They bring life. Over the past year, I have watched how they bring this miracle of life. I have seen it in friends whose bodies were dying, and I have seen it in friends who have lost loved ones. Their stories are each uniquely hard and beautiful, but there is a way they are the same. They all fed on Scripture. They asked for Scripture from others. They prayed Scripture. As a result, though they were facing death, they were profoundly alive.

The quote is from Spurgeon. He is saying that Scripture is the very words of God, and who doesn’t love to hear the sound of God’s voice? ¹ The problem is that most of us want to hear God’s voice, but we don’t crack our Bibles, and we don’t even buy our own excuses for not doing so. We can all use some fresh motivation.

Here are ways Scripture motivates us to start reading.

Scripture is the words of God to you. Open the Bible anywhere and the words there could be introduced with “the Spirit says” (Heb 3:7). These words are bread for our soul (Deut 8:3). They bring life.

Over the past year, I have watched how they bring this miracle of life. I have seen it in friends whose bodies were dying, and I have seen it in friends who have lost loved ones. Their stories are each uniquely hard and beautiful, but there is a way they are the same. They all fed on Scripture. They asked for Scripture from others. They prayed Scripture. As a result, though they were facing death, they were profoundly alive.

Israel’s kings were directed by God to handwrite a personal copy of his words and keep it with them (Deut 17:18-20). They didn’t, of course. Hezekiah may have been the exception because he knew the Law of Moses and did not depart from it (2 Kings 18:6). Life and power were evident during his reign. Take note of Josiah, too. During his reign, an extensive rehab project of the temple was undertaken and a copy of the Law was unearthed. When it was read, the Spirit used it to revive an entire nation (2 Kings 22-23).

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