3 Bibles ~ Psalm 37

^“The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.  The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip.” Psalm 37:30-31 ESV (italics added)

              The very first chapter of the Bible, Genesis chapter 1, tells us that God created mankind in His own image.  It should not surprise us then that mankind is beautifully complex.  And in this beautiful complexity we are unique creatures within God’s animal kingdom.  Humans alone have the ability for advanced cognitive abilities such as language, reasoning, and entertaining abstract topics such as physics, complex mathematics, and engineering.  Mankind also alone possesses the skill to craft art and music that alone touches a deep place with the human being.  Yes, God created us humans in a way that allows us to experience the wonder of His created world in a way in which no other creature can delve.  And as you attempt to better understand the complexities of God’s created beings, you realize that there are three distinct components that exists within each of those creatures...the physical, the psychological, and the spiritual.

              As we explore these three human elements and attempt to better understand them, you cannot peer into their depths and attempt that understanding without first considering the One that created the creature.  And to effectively achieve this, you must admit that of the three, we are first and foremost spiritual creatures.  We are spiritual creatures crafted with the primary purpose to relate and commune with the One that created us. And it is here in this purpose that the Psalms speak ever so loudly.  Men carried along by the Holy Spirit of God. Men crying out, yearning, and desperate in their attempts to relate with their God that alone holds the keys to the intricacies of this life.  Put more plainly, better understand God, better understand this life.

              Psalm 37 sees David take us on a journey.  One to understand his enemies, his sin, his pain, and to locate the path that the Lord deems good for him.  And along this journey, one all humans must walk, David experiences the highs of what it is to walk righteously with God in peace, joy, and harmony, and what it is to do the opposite.  And the opposite of walking in God’s way, is to walk in the guilt, turmoil, and perpetual shame of our sin against a Holy God.  As we are blessed to walk along with David in his journey, we soon deduce that the 3000 years that separate us from his poetic offerings make little difference, for our human journeys are one and the same.  The point?  How do we as complex creatures made in the image of God, physically locate God, psychologically understand His ways for us, and then actually do them in heart-driven obedience?  What a grand question indeed.  To attempt an answer, let us delve into those three spheres of human existence; the physical, the psychological, and the spiritual and consider how the Word of God interacts with each.

              The physical Bible.  We exist as humans in a physical state.  We contain matter and occupy space.  Of the three human components, I believe this is the easiest one for all humans to acknowledge as an absolute.  I don’t encounter many that would be ready to passionately argue that humans do not exist in the physical realm.  So, as we admit and acknowledge this truth, how do we physically find a God that inhabits only the spiritual realm in this physical world?  Well, God would not and did not create a world and place beings of His own image in it, to only abandon it and make it impossible for those beings to find Him.  Yes, God promises to be readily found by those in this physical world that are truly seeking Him.

“You will seek me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

              But how?  Well, God gifted mankind one of the biggest miracles that has ever existed.  His very Words to His creation.  A collection of 66 books that tell of Him, His ways, His love, and His plan to rescue His creatures from their sinful nature that draws them away from the very One that created them.  Yes, you probably have several lying around your house in this moment.  Of course, I am speaking of God’s Word, the Holy scriptures, the Bible.  God left us, in the physical, His very Words to His creation.  Of the three Bibles, the first exists in the physical, we can hold it in our hands, touch it, read it, study it, and mediate upon it's pages day and night.

              The psychological Bible.  But when we do go seeking God, we naturally will not find Him physically, but in the way He chooses to present Himself to us.  And to find God in His chosen way, all humans must go on a journey that takes them from the physical into the psychological.  That is, into the space of the mind.  God gave us brains to process the complexities of the world in which He placed us.  And that includes Him.  And as we attempt to process the grandness of God mentally, He instructs us that it will take us to the very limits and extremes of our brain’s processing capability.  And as we reach our human limit, we must allow God to take us even farther.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

              Yes, the apostle Paul, carried along by the Holy Spirit of God, penned words of pure truth.  As we physically hold and intake the Word of God and it penetrates our ears and proceeds into our psyche, our minds must be transformed and renewed to attempt to approach the perfect ways of God.  It is here in this transformed and renewed mind, that we first truly encounter the depths of the Word of God.  For to be useful to us, the Word of God must be stored somewhere.  And it is here, in the human mind, that we hold the second Bible.  We hold and store up the Word of God in the amazing complexities of the hippocampus, the neocortex, and amygdala.  Yes, God provided a wonder of mental tools to store His Words close in our inner being.

So the process so far concludes that we must usher the first Bible, the physical one that graces our hands, to the second Bible, the one that is stored in the memory banks of our minds, to yet another place that will allow us to see God’s ways manifested into our lives.  And we see this process eloquently and powerfully stated by James in the Biblical book that bears his name:

“Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22 NIV (italics added)

              The heart Bible.  What is the point to possess the first Bible in your hands, allow the second Bible held in your mind to penetrate your being and transform and renew your mind, and then not do what it says?  You see, the third Bible, the most important of the three, God destines to be held in our hearts.  The very muscle that pumps the life-giving resource of blood to the extremities of the human body, giving it life, is truly meant to not hold blood, but God’s Words of life to the souls He created, loves, and desires to be with Him in heaven for eternity.  Yes, only by holding the Word of God, in great faith and love in the human heart, can the believer in Jesus Christ be allowed to move the Word from the physical, to the mental, and then into the actions and deeds that “do” what the Word instructs.  The cycle is made complete only in the final and most complex step of ushering the Word of God into the innermost chambers of the heart.  It is only there that God’s Words will do what they were intended to do…  transform that life into one that looks more like Jesus Christ.

              Today you have one Bible that is calling to you, the physical copy that lies within your reach.  The question is, will you pick it up, readily invite it to penetrate the deep recesses of your mind, and then allow it into the very heart of your being, allowing it to move your hands and feet into obedient action to what those Words speak?

Three Bibles…the physical Bible, the psychological Bible, and the heart Bible… all three are necessary to see the disciple of Christ found fully mature in the One we profess to follow…the Lord and Savior of this world, Jesus Christ.

Blessings on your journey with the Word ~ Dan

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”