SCROLLS ALIVE

Study to show thyself approved

unto God, a workman that needeth

not to be ashamed, rightly

dividing the word of truth.

II Timothy 2:15

If I were to have a “bucket list” which I do not have and will never have, one thing on that list would have been to take part in an archaeological dig somewhere in Israel. I took a course in college entitled Biblical Archaeology. One must be careful in this area of study to make sure information is authentic. I have a book I often read into regarding the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Scrolls are fascinating objects. In their day, they were considered to be what we would call our modern day books, but in different form. They look like two rolls of paper that roll into each other. Each has a wooden dowel on which each end of the papyrus is attached. When reading from such a scroll, the reader simply rolls one side onto the other. Often the reader is very adept at reading in speedy fashion, thus the quick movement of two sides of the one scroll accommodating the other.

In our modern day, we don't hear much about scrolls except for those we might see in a museum somewhere. We have well bound books with covers and pages inside in various sizes. We don't have to roll a scroll back and forth. We simply turn a page and continue that process of reading.

In our modern day, we have been introduced to a new term....scrolling. This is the movement of a text up and down or from side to side to quickly find needed information. On TV we might see scrolling when a song comes on the screen with printed words that move up in sing-a-long fashion.

The danger in scrolling is when we do such a thing with the Bibles we hold in our laps. We're often in a hurry to get a chapter of the day read or scroll down to a favorite verse, ignoring all the other verses. The Old Testament is full of occasions when God's Word was read to people in groups. Those reading from scrolls to the people read it word for word. Amazingly at times the reading was done for large groups, often who stood for hours listening to the Word that was faithfully read by the hour where people stood listening. No shortcuts or scrolling.

How about you and me? When reading our Bibles, do we scroll past very familiar passages to get to the next verses? Do we honor God's Word by being so casual in our “reading?” May we study the Word well in a way God would approve of, and interpreting and living out the word of truth as should be. That won't happen if we take shortcuts in our reading. We can't fool God...scrolling won't change us but feasting on the Word, word for word will.

Father, what a gift You have given us in the form of the Bible. Convict us of our need to be feeding on this precious gift so we may love and serve You better. Give us a renewed love and appreciation of this precious book we call BIBLE. In Jesus' precious name...Amen