Lily Wang
In April 2003, I came to the Queens
Chinese Presbyterian Church, which was my new home. I decided on a plan "to eat the scroll" inspired by Ezekiel 3:1-3 recorded from God. At the end of December, I had finished reading 187 chapters of Decreesand Laws, 249 chapters of History, 243 chapters of Wisdom and 167 chapters of the Prophets of the Old Testament. I seemingly carried out the plan "to eat the scroll" in form, but actually I haven't "eaten" the teaching of the gospel into my heart. What I have done is far too little. Hence I pray to our Father to give patience and modesty to me, to study the bible incessantly, to listen to our Father carefully. Then my life will have good progress and will be the salt and the light.
Bible - the Word of God is our life food. At the beginning I was just like many Christians who did not take reading bible seriously. I wondered why I hadn't been hungry in the past when I didn't read the bible. I remembered when I first entered the Church, recognized God, and then I was baptized and considered
myself as a daughter of our Father. I thought that I got a guarantee of eternal life. I read the bible carelessly or intermittently. I had half-baked knowledge of God's words and sometimes just turned a deaf ear to it. I had been an unenlightened Christian for thirty years;
In 1997, I attended a gathering at a village in Anwei with church members for communication of churches. In the mean time, there were a senior bridge-constructor, a boss of a teashop and a porter from
Huangshan Travel district. They all could recite many chapters and paragraphs from the bible without missing a word. I felt ashamed and decided to study the bible every day. For six years no matter how busy I was, I made the effort to study and think of God's words. After a period of time, there was a distinct change in my life. It's not only a habit, but is a kind of "hunger" for spiritual life. It is human instinct that one will try to find food when he is hungry. Now when the spiritual life is hungry, he will try to find the word of God. I believe this is the essence of "to eat the scroll". Every time I suffer setbacks or am in trouble, the word from David and Paul will appear in my mind. They encourage and comfort me. It is really the function of great support and strengthening. Can we say it is not the food of our spiritual life?
In the presence of God we are all sinners having committed countless crimes. Our hearts are full of one self. No matter how you may plead innocent for yourself, it is a gross deception. Actually there is no real peace at all. When we modestly get redemption from our God you will find you are thinking more about heaven and less about worldly affairs. If we can communicate with our God wholeheartedly every day and listen to His word we will feel that we are nearer to God. Sometimes even when we are in solitary without help we are walking with God and we are comforted. God also bear our heavy burdens. This amazing feeling regulates the position of God in our hearts. When our hearts are full of God's Words, the blessing from His words will eliminate our sorrow, worry, selfishness and vanity.
Dear brothers and sisters, to study the bible is really an experience of happiness. In
John 4: 13-14 Jesus answered the
Samaritan woman: "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water I shall give him will never thirst. The water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Why not start reading the bible today?