Advice You Can Trust

A few years ago, I had to give evidence in court. As a witness of what had happened, I gave my testimony. I had to say who I was. I had to promise that everything I would tell the court would be, to the best of my ability, true. And then, in answer to the barristers’ questions, I described what I had seen and heard.

This verse tells us that the Scriptures are ‘God’s testimonies’. The first five books of our Bibles were probably pretty well the only Scripture that David had. They declared who God is, provided the commandments he was to live by, but also stories from the past, the account of how God created the universe, the history of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, and all that came from that.

And David knew that God had seen it all. He’d been there. And His ‘evidence’ would be totally reliable, because He is God. Someone wrote down the narratives, but God was telling the story, the account of what He saw. And if you keep your ‘spiritual ears’ open as you read it, you’ll hear Him telling the story, just for you.

I think that listening to God telling the story must give anyone the greatest of delight. There’s nothing like hearing an eyewitness telling us about something that has gone down in history! “I was there”.

These testimonies are David’s ‘counsellors’ – his advisors through life. It’s as if God is saying to him, “You see what happened to Esau? Well, don’t you think there are some lessons here for you?” Or it could be something like, “Let me tell you about Joseph. You’re going through a tough time at the moment. How about taking some inspiration from him?”. Or, maybe, it was like this, “David, let me tell you about how I made the universe”. David listened and was so moved that he wrote in Psalm 19, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God’.

When we read the Bible, we come with all kinds of expectations. What about treating what we read as the most reliable ‘witness statement’ we’ll ever hear? What’s more, the Witness Himself will speak to us. What better counsel could you ever hope for? And could you imagine anything that would delight you more?

Prayer: Father, thank You so much for Your Word. As I read it today, please speak to me. Tell me what I need to know right now. I can’t imagine anything better than hearing Your voice as You say, “This is the way, walk in it”, Amen.