"Careless With The Word"

"Careless With The Word"

"I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.”  Psalm 119:16

I have many Bibles but only two that I use the most.  One I keep in my vehicle-- I use it at church, Bible study, prayer meeting, etc.  The other one I keep at home and use it for my study Bible.  Sunday when I got to church, I couldn't find my Bible in my vehicle.  I went in the church thinking I had left it there.  It wasn't.  I began to think that I had taken it out and left it either on the dining room table or in my office.  When I got home, I began to look for it.  My husband and I both looked numerous times in the house-- everywhere, we left no place unsearched-- and in my vehicle, but still didn't find it.  I tried to recall the last time I used it.  I had it at prayer group so I contacted my friend to see if I had left it-- no, I hadn't.  I began to think that maybe it fell out of my vehicle, but how didn't I notice if it did.  I called a few stores to see if it had be found in the parking lot and turned in.  No, no one had turned it in. I even went to the shop to see if it was there.  I have to be honest, at this point I began to get a little concerned thinking that I may have really lost my Bible.  That night I dreamed I found it.  But the next morning, it was still gone.  As I went to prayer, I talked to the Lord about how heartbroken I was and how much I wanted my Bible back-- it felt like a big hole was in my heart.  I repented that I had been so careless with it.  I wondered if losing it was prophetic sign?  As I prayed-- through tears-- the thought came to me to contact my neighbor who lives beside the shop to see if maybe she saw it laying in the parking lot.  I described it to her.  She messaged me back and said that lady who lived behind her (and the shop) had come by the day before to see if she had lost a Bible.  It fit the description of mine.  (We both decided that it was mine.)  My tears of sadness turned into tears of thanksgiving and joy.  I went later and picked it up.  

When I said I wondered if losing it was a prophetic sign, I meant-- Am I careless with God's Word?  Does it have the place of importance in my life I thought it did?  Did I truly feel lost without it?  It took me a few days to notice it was gone.  Does that show a lack of priority for the Word?  Is it something I take for granted until I get ready for it, or need it?  Just what is my relationship with God's Word?  The Bible is a book that has God's Word written in it.  But what am I doing with the Word itself?  Is it hid in my heart?  Am I allowing it to be a light to my path?  Is it more precious that anything else?  Am I following it?  Am I living by it?  Am I patterning my life after it?  Am I allowing it to change me?

If I asked you these same questions, what would your answer be?  I was upset that I had lost it, but I rejoiced when I had found it.  When we aren't holding the Word of God dear to our hearts and are neglecting it, we are being careless with it.  We can't afford to "lose" God's Word-- in it is life.  Therefore, we must never let it out of our sight.

Have a great day.  What is your relationship with God's Word?  Careless or serious?