O how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on Your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey Your precepts. Psalm 119: 97-99
One of our greatest blessings, one which we take for granted in a grievous way, is the Word of God. As Americans, most of us who call ourselves believers, have multiple copies in our homes. But did you know that in other parts of the world, Bibles are still being smuggled to places where owning God’s Word is prohibited?
Fifty years ago Voice of the Martyrs mission first began smuggling Bibles behind what was called the Iron Curtain. Today this need has grown. Many governments have made God’s Word illegal and threaten Bible owners and distributors with violence. It’s crazy to think about the fact that Bibles are treated as dangerously illegal in many oppressive nations in the same way that we treat drugs as dangerously illegal in the United States!
But around the world there are also dedicated people willing to risk and suffer imprisonment and physical harm in order to share copies of the Bible with those who so desperately want them. Today’s smugglers are bold, clever and sophisticated. They hide them “in plain sight” in one country by packing Bibles in beer boxes! Another country has a smuggling channel so effective that it just passed an incredible milestone: the 400,000th Bible crossed the border a few months ago. In recent years, new techniques have been added: the Bible and entire libraries of Christian resources are passed from believer to believer on a microchip the size of a fingernail!
These believers are so thankful to finally have their own Bibles. “Thank you,” they say. “You are water for a thirsty soul.” Feeling a little convicted right now? How long has it been since you opened your Bible to read and spend time with God? When is the last time you couldn’t wait to read this precious Book? Have you ever thanked God for the privilege of owning one (or many) Bibles?
We are blessed to have God’s Word to make us wise (see the verses for today), to give us insight, to build into us understanding! May we treat it with honor and thanksgiving!
*Do you treasure and value your copy of God’s Word?
Father , thank You for Your Word and for the privilege of owning a copy. Thank You, too, for those people who risk their lives so that others can read Your Word. May I never treat lightly what others have assigned such honor. May I cull from it the depth of insight and understanding that would help me stand against any “enemy” that comes again me. In Jesus’ power name I pray, Amen.
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