LOST IN PLAIN SIGHT

By Pastor Eric

As I was turning off the lights in the youth loft, after a great night of Bible study, I noticed something sitting on the side of the pool table. I hit the light switch and began to walk over to the other side of the room. As I got closer I realized that one of the students had left their Bible behind–they had forgotten to take it with them. I didn’t think much of it, I’m always forgetting things too…probably my age though. I took the bible and placed it on the sound booth counter assuming that someone would be looking for it soon. 

A week went by and that Bible was still sitting right where I had left it. Nobody had called looking for it. No one had inquired about a lost Bible. So, I left it there hoping that someone would be looking for it. Two weeks went by and that Bible never moved. Did anyone care about it? Did they even notice it was lost? After the 3rd week, I finally picked the Bible up and placed it in my office where it sits even as I type this devotion. 

As I sat in my office today working on a small group curriculum, I had a thought, a question I pondered as I looked over at the lost Bible on my desk. I asked myself, “What if that had been someone’s cell phone?” How long do you think it would have sat in the youth loft before someone came looking for it? I can only imagine the fear and panic that would have set in once they realized they forgot their phone or possibly misplaced it. There would have been an “all out” search for that phone, nothing else would have mattered until it was found! Can’t be without my phone…has anyone seen it, I have to get it back!! You’ve been there, haven’t you? 

What if our Bibles, God’s word, carried that much priority and importance in our lives? “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread” Job 13:12b. I’m not talking about the physical Bible, but rather the Word of God. What if the Word of God carried that much weight in our daily lives, that we couldn’t stand to be without it, that we would be fearful if we didn’t have it for a week, a day, even an hour. What if God’s Word had so much priority/importance in our lives that we simply couldn’t be without it, that we would do anything to have it?

It breaks my heart knowing that someone hasn’t had their Bible this whole time–that they haven’t been in the Word this whole time. I pray that whoever owns that Bible is hungry enough for the Word that they simply found it in another place while their Bible is missing. Either way, I wish we would be more passionate and hungry for God’s Word, the same way we are with many other things in our lives. God speaks about his words as spiritual food, nourishment that we can’t live without. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” Matthew 5:6.

God’s Word is essential to life, to growth, to knowing him, and being in an intimate relationship with him. “For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” John 6:33. 

Do you have a hunger for God’s Word everyday? Do you get anxious, does panic set in, and do you get worried when it’s missing? “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” John 6:35.

Brothers and Sisters, do you know where your Bible is right now? Stop what you’re doing, go find it, and fill up on the source of life! “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” Psalm 119:11.

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