| Novelist Robertson Davies once wrote, “To ask an author…if his work is autobiographical is like asking a spider where he buys his thread.” No author ever weaves words from someone else’s being. They are always his words, reflecting his soul.
The Bible reveals God’s soul to us in a way that no other book is able to do. It is history, wisdom, and poetry. It is unparalleled as a compendium of theology, philosophy, and ethics. It is a gospel tract, distilling the essence of our relationship to the Lord, but it is also an epic, introducing us to the immensity of an eternal God.
Though the Bible contains all these things, it is at its heart an autobiography. The Bible is all about God. Through even the most twisted and unlikely narratives, some even tawdry, we see God’s soul reflected to us. God is revealed as Jacob wrestles with him. God is showcased through the complaint of Job, the anguish of Jeremiah, and the courage of Hannah. God is the voice behind the people’s shouting and singing over the new temple of Solomon; he is the echo behind the weeping over the rebuilt temple of Ezra. God is the silence of the four centuries before Christ, and the exultant glory in the night sky of Bethlehem.
Every word speaks something to us of his soul. It is not just from the prophets’ mouths that we hear his lament over Israel. We hear it in the very telling of the captivity itself. It is not just from John’s apocalyptic pen that we learn of God’s coming judgment. We can see God’s wrath reflected in the agony of his Son on the cross. It is not just from Jesus’ mouth that we learn of God’s love. We know from Jesus’ daily walk with sinners like you and me.
Treasure God’s Word today. In everything you read, you will come to know the soul of God, he who is the lover of your soul.
Father, write your words on my heart today, that I might be your story written to a lost and dying world. |
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