I have just finished reading ‘Waiting on God’ by Wayne Stiles. Sarah and I read it together over the course of a few months. What a great book, I heartily recommend it to you.<\/p>\n
The book was recommended twice to us\u00a0by friends and we had purchased a copy for several folks in bible class before we read it ourselves. After entering in on a period of our lives where we were having to do our own bit of waiting, we decided we should take a look. This week we read the closing chapters. As well as the book making significant impressions on our perspective for Christian living, I came away reminded of the blessing that it is to be able to read and be encouraged, enlightened and challenged, by books. If you’re not a reader, you’re missing out.<\/p>\n
Of course, God’s Word is the source of all revelation and the ultimate\u00a0source of encouragement and challenge for believers. It is ‘profitable for\u00a0doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness’ and so forth (2 Tim 3:16). In fact, so essential is The Word of God, that the Apostle Paul\u00a0wrote, ‘the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.’ (2 Tim 2:2). So began a tradition of passing down the truth from one generation of faithful men to another.<\/p>\n
Alongside bible teaching meetings, books written by others are a vital way in which truth is passed down in this way. Were we infallible ourselves, we could rely solely on our own bible study (2 Tim 2:15). Yet even faithful men like Spurgeon recognised the benefit of learning from others. In a lecture\u00a0where he spoke on the use of commentaries in 1876, Spurgeon cautioned against\u00a0elevating man’s books above God’s Word. He also conceded that not all commentaries are equal, the bible student must be discerning. His bigger fear though, was that we might have\u00a0some sort of aversion to them all. He stated, ‘It\u00a0seems\u00a0odd\u00a0that\u00a0certain\u00a0men\u00a0who\u00a0talk\u00a0so\u00a0much\u00a0of\u00a0what\u00a0the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0reveals\u00a0to themselves\u00a0should\u00a0think\u00a0so\u00a0little\u00a0of\u00a0what\u00a0he\u00a0has\u00a0revealed\u00a0to\u00a0others.’ He also pointed out that in some cases, men have spent a lifetime studying one book – who could fail to see the benefit of drawing on a commentary that represents the digested version of an entire life’s work. 1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n So it is with all books written by believers. We must not elevate the human author above\u00a0the\u00a0divine. We must be discerning. That said, we can benefit immensely from truth passed down to us by others whether spoken formally in a teaching meeting, informally over coffee or in written form as with commentaries and other topical writings. Books have the advantage that you can enjoy them all in one sitting or in smaller chunks when it’s convenient. They give you time to reflect as you read. They can be very direct without causing you offence. They can rekindle your love for The Word again when your bible reading habit has grown cold.<\/p>\n Books allow you to sit under the teaching of men who are now with The Lord. These men were given for the ‘equipping of the Saints’ (Eph 4:12). How good to complement your exposure to teachers of the present day with teaching from men of the past.<\/p>\n