Saturday, February 17, 2007
Return To The Honeycomb
Madame Jeanne Guyow is credited with this CWO Quote of The Week:
Bees are very good at building honeycombs and making honey. When God made them He programmed that in them. If you'll pardon my pun, it's their reason for being. Except for having to fly all over the place looking for flowers, which could be a little iffy, their lives are predictable. When they were little fellows, nobody asked them what they would be when they grew up.
The production of turning flower nectar into something that sets in a jar on your table is orchestrated more precisely than some military operations. Each bee involved in it has a specific job and does it exactly as God designed. Each year the bees make their honey. All we have to do to taste it is return to the honeycomb.
We are more complex than bees. It's not that making us was more difficult for God than creating them, but getting us to do what He planned for us is a different situation. Bees cannot NOT do what they were put on earth for. They don't need a lifetime instruction manual. We do.
Our God knew we would need it. He got certain people to take notes and put it in book form, and pass it on to us. Praise God! We live in a country whose government doesn't control its use. Not having enough reading material isn't the problem.
If sometimes you get weary because everyday things get in the way of reading yours, take heart knowing it's a widespread problem. I don't think we lack intention, it's our approach. Much emphasis is placed on speed and amount of the Bible read, which fits right in with this hurry up world we're in. If we're to grow in living as God has in mind for us, regular reading and understanding even a few verses is better than racing through to cover Biblical territory.
The Bible I learn most from is old. A daughter gave it to me years ago. Once I thought I'd like a new one, but when it arrived, realized the old one helps me more. My daughter used it many years. It's a beautiful chronicle of her life. Her notes and comments are all over it. I love reading dates of important things in her family. Marriages, but even moreso, when they became Christians. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we celebrated that life changing event.
It is a Study Bible, the International Inductive one, New American Standard Bible. I'm not big on diagrams and lists and all kinds of notes, so I don't do all that. Each Book is prefaced with information that helps me understand what it's about, and how it fits in the entire Bible.
But something that is much more important than if you read all of it in a certain time, goes back to Jesus when he was here, and needed Honey from His Honeycomb. He stole away from needy, noisy crowds pressing in, and spent time with His Father, and nearly always prayed.
Very close to the beginning of my Bible, a wise person suggested that for me. On page seventeen he recommended what I'll put in the next paragraph. But before that, if you're having a harrowing day, it's alright to take time to get some bread and butter to go with the rest of this:
"Step One: Begin with prayer". The author says the following:
"Prayer is often the missing element in Bible study. You are
about to learn the most effective method of Bible study there is.
Yet apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, that's all it will be...
a method..." He ends with this: "As you open the Scriptures,
always ask God to teach you."
Something else I do that helps me not set my faith in separate little parts is, when something good takes place on ordinary days, I take a moment to remember where it came from. Sometimes it's more about a concern, but the same approach works well. Another way to return to the honeycomb.
"Those who read fast by only skimmimg
over the surface
of the flowers,
instead of waiting
to penetrate into it,
and extract its sweets.
reap no more advantage
than a bee would
Bees are very good at building honeycombs and making honey. When God made them He programmed that in them. If you'll pardon my pun, it's their reason for being. Except for having to fly all over the place looking for flowers, which could be a little iffy, their lives are predictable. When they were little fellows, nobody asked them what they would be when they grew up.
The production of turning flower nectar into something that sets in a jar on your table is orchestrated more precisely than some military operations. Each bee involved in it has a specific job and does it exactly as God designed. Each year the bees make their honey. All we have to do to taste it is return to the honeycomb.
We are more complex than bees. It's not that making us was more difficult for God than creating them, but getting us to do what He planned for us is a different situation. Bees cannot NOT do what they were put on earth for. They don't need a lifetime instruction manual. We do.
Our God knew we would need it. He got certain people to take notes and put it in book form, and pass it on to us. Praise God! We live in a country whose government doesn't control its use. Not having enough reading material isn't the problem.
If sometimes you get weary because everyday things get in the way of reading yours, take heart knowing it's a widespread problem. I don't think we lack intention, it's our approach. Much emphasis is placed on speed and amount of the Bible read, which fits right in with this hurry up world we're in. If we're to grow in living as God has in mind for us, regular reading and understanding even a few verses is better than racing through to cover Biblical territory.
The Bible I learn most from is old. A daughter gave it to me years ago. Once I thought I'd like a new one, but when it arrived, realized the old one helps me more. My daughter used it many years. It's a beautiful chronicle of her life. Her notes and comments are all over it. I love reading dates of important things in her family. Marriages, but even moreso, when they became Christians. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we celebrated that life changing event.
It is a Study Bible, the International Inductive one, New American Standard Bible. I'm not big on diagrams and lists and all kinds of notes, so I don't do all that. Each Book is prefaced with information that helps me understand what it's about, and how it fits in the entire Bible.
But something that is much more important than if you read all of it in a certain time, goes back to Jesus when he was here, and needed Honey from His Honeycomb. He stole away from needy, noisy crowds pressing in, and spent time with His Father, and nearly always prayed.
Very close to the beginning of my Bible, a wise person suggested that for me. On page seventeen he recommended what I'll put in the next paragraph. But before that, if you're having a harrowing day, it's alright to take time to get some bread and butter to go with the rest of this:
"Step One: Begin with prayer". The author says the following:
"Prayer is often the missing element in Bible study. You are
about to learn the most effective method of Bible study there is.
Yet apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, that's all it will be...
a method..." He ends with this: "As you open the Scriptures,
always ask God to teach you."
Something else I do that helps me not set my faith in separate little parts is, when something good takes place on ordinary days, I take a moment to remember where it came from. Sometimes it's more about a concern, but the same approach works well. Another way to return to the honeycomb.
