Bible Text: Psalm 127:3 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Psalm 127:3

“Mommy, whose book is that?” The question came from a little girl who had just discovered the black, leather-bound volume covered with dust on a table. The mother looked up and smiled. “Why that is a Bible—that’s God’s book.” “Well,” said the little girl, “why don’t we send it back to Him ‘cause we don’t read it around here.” The innocence of a child sometimes prods deeply into our lives.

Whose book is this one, made up of sixty-six separate books, stamped in gold, “Holy Bible?” Is it merely man’s? Or is it more than this? If it’s more than man’s wisdom, if it is singular and unique in scope and preservation, then it deserves a reading. If it is just another book, then let it take its place on the library shelf alongside Homer and Shakespeare, Milton, Dante and others.

What do you know about the Bible? The Bible is certainly the most unique piece of literature in history. Stop and think for just a moment. It was not written in a matter of a few years, or for that matter a few centuries. It took sixteen hundred years from the day Moses first started to write until John finished the last book of the New Testament. That is a long time in anybody’s language.

Think of the continuity of thought over that period of time. The Bible is unique in that there is one theme continually seen down through the centuries—it is the story of God’s grace and love. The story of a changeless God in a changing world. Only God could give such a book. Go to your library and pull out a book on any other subject, preferably one written twenty-five years ago. If you have one, or can get to one, find a book that was written fifty years ago or more. Now read them carefully and note how they disagree.

In all probability you will find that in a short period of time—relatively speaking—the three or four books will indicate a tremendous shift in opinions. This is not true of the book called the Bible. What Moses wrote does not contradict what Isaiah wrote seven hundred years later. Is it by chance, or does it become apparent that there was a higher Author who guided the men in what they wrote? The Bible itself says that the higher Author who gave direction to the men was God Himself. Paul wrote, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:15, KJV).

The reason that the Bible continues to take its place as the world’s best-selling book, is that it still offers hope, light, and guidance to troubled men and women today. The Bible tells us how to bridge the gulf of separation, of estrangement between you and God, and how to come to God through Jesus Christ. Millions of pages of books have been written about God and Jesus Christ, but only the Bibl speaks with the voice of authority, showing us how to pray, how to find God’s will, how to discover real peace and happiness. No psychiatrist, no politician, no human wisdom can tell us this. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me” (John 14:6).

By the way, friend, have you discovered what the Bible says about your life? Have you discovered the Bible contains guidelines for living? Why not start today and discover why the Bible is the world’s best-selling and best-loved book?

Resource reading: Isaiah 40:1-10