Is your Bible falling apart?

I opened my Bible to Proverbs 16, purely by the providence of God, because today is December 16, 2024, and I wasn't looking for the Proverb of the day, though I often do. Today is my childhood best friend's birthday. For those of you who went to school with me that friend is Nancy Flinn, whom I met in the third grade at the drinking fountain. All my life I had not realized that her birthday was exactly two weeks after mine. Funny how the light switches on about little things like that as you go through life. I did notice that the pages are beginning to fall out of this Bible. I have another one in a box that this one replaced several years ago. I have trouble throwing old Bibles away, although I suppose I shouldn't. Naturally, no Bible that is opened very much or highlighted in is going to last forever, so it might be time to actually start a new one. But I can still use it! It feels wasteful throwing away something that is not completely falling apart. That's just how I was raised, I guess. I can't even remember where I got this Bible. I've been here 16 years. It is possible that I bought it within that time. The Bible I wore out before this one actually had sections falling out of it and became difficult to use that way. This one is not that bad yet. You have probably heard it said that if a person's Bible is falling apart, their life probably isn't, and I am pretty sure that saying is true in my life. However, I am not nearly as disciplined as I want to be about reading and studying my Bible. I want to do better in the future. The New Year is just around the corner, and I gave up on New Year's Resolutions years ago. Why? Because I could never live up to them, so I finally decided it was no use. That is probably a lazy person's excuse, but I just can't bring myself to do it anymore. A preacher on the radio has been talking about having an appointment with the Lord every day, that you should have a desk in the room where you keep that appointment, have a composition book, something to write with and a Bible, every day, with regularity. Well, I confess, I am very bad about that. I used to be much better, so I suppose it will not be impossible to improve on this in the coming year. I also sense that it is going to be essential for survival. So the same preacher that is telling me I should have an an appointment with God every day is also asking for donations every day, and I just can't donate to everyone who asks. Besides, as I always say, even Chuck Smith never asked for donations. I think we should give to wherever God directs us to give, nothing else, nowhere else. So does that mean since I don't agree with his regularly asking for donations I should not listen to his advice about having a time with God every day in a somewhat disciplined manner? Of course not. The important thing is to listen to what God is saying, and he can say anything through anybody, you just have to know the voice of God. He said his sheep hear his voice. ' So, since my Bible opened up to Proverbs 16, I'm going to see what is in there that God wanted me to read. The first verse of Proverbs 16 says, "The preparations of the heart belong to man. But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord." There is a note on "preparations and my notes say that the Hebrew word translated "preparations" has to do with arranging things in an orderly manner. I have been working on that for years. Tonight after my December/Christmas singing engagement that I have every month, I came home and discarded a bunch of copies of "O Holy Night" that were not in my key and just kept one of the sheet music in C and another of the sheet music in G. I do not read music very well at all, but for a long itme have been trying to get a little better at it. The thing is if I hadn't thrown those copies away I would not have been able to close my Christmas music notebook. You would not believe the number of notebooks (binders) I have in this place. I just started another skinny one for song lists covering the last several months. You never know when you might want to review song lists. Otherwise you might forget everything you know, right? I don't know. It's already getting late. We all have areas in our lives that need ordering, right? But I suppose the most important thing to order would be your heart, as in "preparations of the heart." As for the answer, I see a similarity between this verse and the ones about "out of heart the mouth speaks." The verse says the answer of tongue is from the Lord." I suppose that means that if you order your heart right, what you speak will be from the Lord. Well, that is certainly something to think about. I am now going to move on to the next hour of my paltry routine. I do believe my life is not falling apart and that it is a direct reflection of my Bibles wearing out. I do not believe it is really possible to have a life that is not falling apart without the Bible, certainly no way to know what God is saying, and not knowing what God is saying probably means you think you don't need God or the Bible. It's honestly very difficult for me to understand how people can go on and on and on without God and the Bible, and am very grateful that I am not one of those people. I really do believe that if God and the Bible were not a vital part of my life, my life would be falling apart, because it was falling apart before I was a saved person. This is all I know to do. Once you know God on a personal basis, there is no turning back, there is no going back, there is no way to go back into the world, at least I am trusting God to not let that happen. This is more than I can explain at this moment, but he did say if you want to be his disciple you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him. And I do want to be his disciple, and I am learning every day what it means to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him, and that is all I want to encourage people to do because it is the way of joy and peace--the "abundant life" Jesus speaks of in John 10:10. Not about making lots of money and having lots of things, but about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. And these are all things we have need of in this world here and now. So, is your Bible falling apart? Think about it. Talk to you tomorrow.