The Bible is the #1 selling book in all of history and also the #1 neglected book in all of history. I actually have several Bibles – some tucked on a shelf collecting dust with barely a crease and the binding in perfect condition. I walked away from tonight’s GreenHouse Bible study convicted that I spend too little time treasuring and reading through the scriptures. The study was led by Eric’s good friend Pastor Danny Bae and he started by passing around his Hebrew Bible. It was opened up at Psalm 119 and he asked if we noticed what was different about this passage. I grabbed the Bible first, but being that my observational skills are seriously impaired and I don’t work well under pressure – I didn’t notice that the chapter is broken up in sections, each 8 verses long. He pointed out that there were 22 of these sections, and these made up an acrostic – each section corresponded to a different letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The first word of each verse of a particular section or stanza begins with the Hebrew letter assigned to that stanza.

Back during biblical times, individual books of scripture were made available at the temple in large scrolls. People would have to walk to the temple in order to read scripture and therefore it would get inconvenient real quick to spend some time in the Word. Psalm 119 was written as an acrostic perhaps to help the reader memorize and store the words away for easy recollection, though storing away 176 verses is no easy task in my world.

Psalm 119:37 “Turn my eyes away from worthless things;”
Psalm 119:18 “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.”

Psalm 119:55 “In the night I remember your name”
Psalm 119:62 “At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws.”

Who sets their alarm in the night in order to read their Bible? Danny brought attention to the fact that the writer of this Psalm loved the Word so much that he would get up in the night to spend time reading his Bible. Do you love the Lord? Then obey Him and know what He requires.

There are in particular 2 Bibles on display at the seminary that Danny and Eric attended, both special because they are very early copies. One had the impressions of the owner’s hands permanently imprinted on the Bible’s cover, he must have carried that Bible around with him wherever he went. The other was so water damaged that they had it sent away to be tested. The water damage turned out to be due to the owner’s tears, poured out as the reader poured over the words of God.

In just the 8 verses of Psalm 119:97-104, the psalmist uses 6 different words to describe the Bible. When you love something, is it not true that you can just go on and on about it? Just rehashing the same subject but with different stories and explanations, or perhaps just repeating yourself until your listener goes deaf. Verse 103: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” It’s so good. The Bible is so good. Perhaps it’s time to pull a copy of the Bible from off the shelf and start reading.