God's Word
This past Sunday, Eliana earned her hundred verse award at Bethlehem! It is amazing what the mind of a child can retain with a little repetition and diligence. Their brains are truly like sponges that soak up everything around them.
While we are very proud of Eliana and the kids accomplishments of memorizing God's word, that same day we were exposed to a view of the Bible that greatly challenged us. We were listening to the biography of Brother Yun (The Heavenly Man) on the way home from Small group on Sunday, and we began to feel as if our view of the Bible is much too small.
Brother Yun was born into Communist China in 1958, and when he became a believer at age 16, there were no Bibles in China to be found. He didn't know anything about Jesus, and when he asked his mother if there was some place to read about him, or know what his teachings were, his mother told him that they didn't exist anymore. Together they decided to visit a pastor, who had previously been imprisoned (20 years) and almost killed for his faith to see if they could obtain a Bible. He told the young Brother Yun that if he really wanted a Bible, "the heavenly book", that he should ask God to give him one from heaven. So, the young man went home, and prayed a simple prayer each night for a month, "Lord, give me a Bible". After that time, he returned to the pastor alone, to ask why he had not received his Bible yet. The pastor replied, "It is because you have not fasted, you must fast and weep each day in order to receive your heavenly book." Brother Yun, full of faith, returned home and began to fast and pray, continuing to ask the Lord, "Please, give me a Bible". He would weep, and plead with the Lord to answer his prayer for God's word. He recounts that this was the hardest and most difficult time in his life, (which is saying a lot if you read the rest of his story). This lasted 100 days. All he ate each day was a small bowl of rice in the evening. His parents thought he was loosing his mind, and each day his hunger for God's word grew more intense. Finally, one night he had a dream, of a man with a cart of bread come by him, and give him a roll, and he was told to eat it. When he did, it turned into a Bible. When he awoke, he began searching his house for the Bible that he remembered in his dream. When his parents found him, they began to pray that God would restore his mental health, as again, they thought he was loosing his mind. Just then, he heard a knock at their door. Brother Yun asked through the door, "Are you the man with the bread?" With a "Yes" reply, he opened the door to find the exact man in his dream pass a Bible to him. Later in his life, he found the man that God had led to give him his Bible, and the other half of the story was told him.
As we sat in our driveway, listening to this testimony of a man hungry for God's word, we realized that we are spiritually fat...we have grown so accustom to eating the richest of God's food, that we take it for granted. Our tastes have grown dull, and our stomachs don't know what it feels like to go hungry. I don't long for the circumstances that this man had to endure, but I do long for his insatiable desire for God's word to fill his soul to satisfaction. O God, forgive us for treating your word so casually. Give us a hunger to know you through your Word!
While we are very proud of Eliana and the kids accomplishments of memorizing God's word, that same day we were exposed to a view of the Bible that greatly challenged us. We were listening to the biography of Brother Yun (The Heavenly Man) on the way home from Small group on Sunday, and we began to feel as if our view of the Bible is much too small.
Brother Yun was born into Communist China in 1958, and when he became a believer at age 16, there were no Bibles in China to be found. He didn't know anything about Jesus, and when he asked his mother if there was some place to read about him, or know what his teachings were, his mother told him that they didn't exist anymore. Together they decided to visit a pastor, who had previously been imprisoned (20 years) and almost killed for his faith to see if they could obtain a Bible. He told the young Brother Yun that if he really wanted a Bible, "the heavenly book", that he should ask God to give him one from heaven. So, the young man went home, and prayed a simple prayer each night for a month, "Lord, give me a Bible". After that time, he returned to the pastor alone, to ask why he had not received his Bible yet. The pastor replied, "It is because you have not fasted, you must fast and weep each day in order to receive your heavenly book." Brother Yun, full of faith, returned home and began to fast and pray, continuing to ask the Lord, "Please, give me a Bible". He would weep, and plead with the Lord to answer his prayer for God's word. He recounts that this was the hardest and most difficult time in his life, (which is saying a lot if you read the rest of his story). This lasted 100 days. All he ate each day was a small bowl of rice in the evening. His parents thought he was loosing his mind, and each day his hunger for God's word grew more intense. Finally, one night he had a dream, of a man with a cart of bread come by him, and give him a roll, and he was told to eat it. When he did, it turned into a Bible. When he awoke, he began searching his house for the Bible that he remembered in his dream. When his parents found him, they began to pray that God would restore his mental health, as again, they thought he was loosing his mind. Just then, he heard a knock at their door. Brother Yun asked through the door, "Are you the man with the bread?" With a "Yes" reply, he opened the door to find the exact man in his dream pass a Bible to him. Later in his life, he found the man that God had led to give him his Bible, and the other half of the story was told him.
As we sat in our driveway, listening to this testimony of a man hungry for God's word, we realized that we are spiritually fat...we have grown so accustom to eating the richest of God's food, that we take it for granted. Our tastes have grown dull, and our stomachs don't know what it feels like to go hungry. I don't long for the circumstances that this man had to endure, but I do long for his insatiable desire for God's word to fill his soul to satisfaction. O God, forgive us for treating your word so casually. Give us a hunger to know you through your Word!
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