Yesterday, without prior notice, God gave me a taste of what life is really about. It came through an errand with my kids.

We were at a Christian book store, picking out my six-year-old daughter’s first Bible. Having settled on the version we wanted, we were now faced with the choice of style and readership level. Pink or purple? Action or journaling edition? Easy reader or original text?

It had been a busy morning. As any mom of young kids can tell you: if you survive the gauntlet of never-ending questions, discipleship moments, melt-downs, cries for food and drink, potty stops, and everything in-between, with a long view of the future and a desire to pass along the beautiful, life-giving truths of God to your kids in every day life, it’s a miracle of the Holy Spirit of God. That does not happen naturally. (Side note to moms: what God has called you to in raising little humans takes supernatural strength from God every single day in every single mundane task in front of you. Brick by brick, decision by decision, God is using you and the world around you to form these little people. The little things you do each day, the norms you are setting, your demonstration of your relationship with God to them, are so important, and you need God’s strength moment by moment to build good into them. We will either build good or evil. It will be a mixture of both, but if you can show them day after day how Mommy isn’t perfect, but dependent on Jesus for getting out the door, for strength to discipline well, for wisdom to know how to shepherd hearts during another fight about whose car is whose, you have given them a priceless gift.)

So there we were, having faced some of the typical gauntlet of a Thursday morning errand run. My two younger boys plunked down on the ground and began paging through kids’ Bibles. I was thankful for the few moments of uninterrupted time with Grace, though I would occasionally check to see if they were ripping pages out of said Bibles. I began talking through some of the differences with her, as she would pick out Bibles that “looked nice”. Then came one of those glorious moments! Slowly, unobtrusively, in the ordinary of daily life. God used me to shepherd a little girl’s heart toward Him through His word, and blessed me in the process.

We had it narrowed down to three Bibles: a journaling edition, an easy reader (modified translation), and an Adventure Bible (Grace had approved all stylistic cover choices!). The conversation went something like this:

Grace: “Mom, how come the Bible is so small? I mean, why are the words so small?”

Me: “Well, honey, the Bible is actually 66 different books written by different men through the Holy Spirit. So the Bible is 66 books all put into one about Jesus. See? The Old Testament was written before He came, and the New Testament was written after Jesus came.”

Grace: “Oooh! So, how do I know where to go? Can I just read anywhere?”

Me: “Yes! It takes a long time to read the whole Bible. But let’s take one of your stories you know from our Bible time at home, and I’ll show you where to find it in the real Bible.”

Grace: “Okay! How about when Jesus rose from the dead?”

Me: “Yes! Great story! It’s actually in four different books: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Let’s go to John.” We go to John 20. “It starts here, Grace. ‘Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark.’ ”

Grace: “That sounds familiar! I know I’ve heard that before, but I probably haven’t heard all of it, I mean the way it’s written here in the Bible.”

Me: “Yes, honey. The kids’ Bibles we’ve read to you at home are written by people who have read God’s word, and then wrote a story about it for kids to understand. But look, Grace! See what we just read in John? Do you remember John, who was a disciple of Jesus? (Grace nods). Well, honey, he wrote this book. He wrote those words, sweetie! Through the Holy Spirit! And it’s been preserved for so many years, and now we’re able to read them, too!”

Grace (eyes widening): “What????”

Here’s where I lost it. I started crying. In the middle of the bookstore, with my kids around me, with strangers walking by. None of it mattered. I remembered Jesus, how he explained to the disciples on the road to Emmaus after he rose from the dead, how everything written about Him in the law, all the prophets, and all Scriptures is about Him. I remembered the persecution of the early church. I remembered the scribes who so carefully copied these accounts of Jesus and letters of Paul and others, which became the New Testament. I remembered the martyrs who died to bring us the Bible translated into the common tongue, so everyone could have access to God’s word. I remembered the attack God’s word has been under, and yet how God’s word is not bound! I saw God’s faithfulness to preserve His words so that my six-year-old daughter could read them, and come to taste and see God’s goodness to us in Jesus Christ. I saw how this moment of discipling my daughter toward Jesus was exactly what I wanted to do with my life.

I was blessed enough at 20 years old to have an older woman, Katherine, take me under her wing and meet with me regularly. Her one stipulation: that we memorize Bible verses together. This relationship is where God showed me the beauties, the never-ending riches of knowing God through Jesus by studying His word. Memorizing was simply a way to meditate on God’s word in a culture that teaches you immediate results are the only results. It also put God’s words in my heart, so I could hear Him speak to me. His truths replaced the lies I had believed. His word is alive! It cuts to the heart! It is utterly supernatural. I’m running out of words to explain the life God brought to me as I studied His words. I want to share that gift of knowing God our Father because of Jesus our Savior through His word and the power of the Holy Spirit changing our hearts.

Let me lean on another, much wiser brother in the faith who has better words than me: George Mueller. These excerpts are from an audio podcast by John Piper on http://www.desiringgod.org, entitled “George Mueller’s Strategy for Showing God”.

The question posed here is: How shall we have such happiness that enables us to let go of such earthly pleasures and passions; vain and worthless in comparison? For example: when I want to watch movies and disconnect instead of meeting with God. I want to spend Thanksgiving in the comfort of my home rather than feeding those without homes. I want to use my money to make my life more comfortable, rather than using it to buy a single mom a car, or giving to my church so the gospel of Jesus Christ can go out to all corners of the world. How shall we have such happiness that enables us to let go of such earthly, vain pleasures and passions?

George Mueller: “This happiness is to be obtained through the study of the Holy Scriptures. God has therein revealed himself unto us in the face of Jesus Christ. Happiness in God comes from seeing God in the face of Jesus Christ through the Scriptures. In them we become acquainted with the character of God. Our eyes are divinely opened to see what a lovely being God is, and this good, gracious, loving heavenly Father is ours, our portion for time and eternity.

The more we know of God, the happier we are. When we became a little acquainted with God, our true happiness commenced. The more we become acquainted with Him, the more truly happy we become. What will make us so exceedingly happy in heaven? It will be the fuller knowledge of God. 

Now in brotherly love and affection, I would give a few hints to my younger fellow believers, as to the way in which to keep up spiritual enjoyment. It is absolutely needful, in order that happiness in the Lord may continue, that Scriptures be regularly read. These are God’s appointed means for the nourishment of the inner man. Consider it, ponder over it, especially should we read through it regularly through the Scriptures consecutively, from front to front, and not pick out here and there a chapter. If we do, we remain spiritual dwarfs.

I tell you so affectionately, for the first four years after my conversion, I made no progress, because I neglected the Bible. But then I regularly read on through the whole with reference to my own heart and soul. I directly made progress. My peace and joy continued more and more. Now, I have been doing this for 47 years. I have read through the whole Bible about 100 times (he was then 71 years old). And I always find it fresh when I begin again; thus my peace and my joy have increased more and more. I saw more clearly than ever that the first and great and primary business I ought to attend to every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. I saw the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the word of God, and the meditation on it.”

What is the food of the inner man? How do we make our souls happy in God? By primarily reading of the word of God. And not simple reading, but considering what we read, pondering over it, giving time to let God work His way in us, and applying it to our lives.

Yesterday, I got to help my daughter take a step toward making her soul happy in the Lord through the Scriptures. I am very aware that I have no power to do so. All is in the hands of God. I was simply an instrument of His in her life. But I do know this: I have experienced, tasted, and seen the goodness of God through the study of His Word. I still do. Being able to share the riches of Jesus with another human being who, yesterday, happened to be my daughter, is the main reason I’m alive, and it’s exactly what I was made to do. God help me, I will continue doing so as long as I live.

Grace picked out the journaling version of the Bible, because, as she put it:

“I want to write down what God is teaching me, and then look back later and see everything that He has done.”

Me too, sweetie. Me too.