My soul faints for your salvation. But I hope in your word. Psalm 119:81

Recently I was at my daughter’s house in Salt Lake. She, her husband and their two girls are voracious readers. Their bookshelves and tables overflow with books. Books are an eclectic part of their furnishings.

I’d  gone  to the basement for quiet time,  prayer and guidance from the Lord.  Standing  in front of a wall- filled book case, I glanced at the titles. Old and new volumes were crammed together in no particular order or genres: professional medical studies; folk lore collections; philosophy; psychology; science and science fiction; familiar old novels and children’s books; classics and a lot of fantasy literature. Some authors I recognized and many I did not. It was a bibliographical jumble as if I’d stumbled into a library’s back room. While I found books on religion and theology, there was no Bible.

I sat on the couch facing the line-up of great and not so great authors with my Bible  on my lap. It’s my travel Bible, a slim, thin- paged volume with no commentaries, having far less pages than a Tolkien or Shakespeare. However, in my hands lay a singular pearl of great price which Jesus talked about. The “words in red” revealing Jesus’ Gospel in the New Testament set into the foundation of the Old Testament are more precious than all the libraries of the world. I had God’s Word before me.  All the other numerous books in the basement library hold the words of humans.

Much of my life has been in pursuit of truth and meaning. I asked questions which all of us ask: Who am I? Why am I here? Am I alone on this planet or is there a God who walks alongside? What is the point of any of this? What is truth anyway?

The world’s  answers rarely satisfied me for  long. Neither art  nor science nor literature nor any of the humanities led me to truth or resolved the big questions. I had a great deal of head knowledge and a very confused, empty soul. The more I studied, the farther I got away from the Truth. I was like Pilate facing Jesus: truth was a rhetorical construct of the mind, impossible to grasp.

The greatest gift I ever received was a Bible from a friend. He told me the Bible is the living Word of God. “You will find it very odd but just read and God will speak to you through the Bible. Trust His Voice, “ he said. It wasn’t long before I heard that quiet Voice which has never stopped speaking if I stop to hear. It is a mystery.

God’s Voice in the Scriptures answer every question and provides all the guidance needed for the remainder of this journey. Thomas, always the skeptic, wanted Jesus to give him solid proof of His Word. Before the crucifixion, Thomas asks Jesus where He is going. How would he know the way?

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

I identify with Thomas a lot. Before being reborn in Christ Jesus, I didn’t know the way either. I followed whatever   path was in front of me, was without direction and got lost repeatedly. The Bible gives simple redirection to Jesus who is Truth and Life and the Way to the Father. Period. We are blind as Pilate when looking for  the “What” instead of “Who.” Truth is a person named Jesus, not Greek philosophy.

Philosophers are concerned with how to think about knowledge and existence. Thinking about human joy, pain and sorrow is far different than walking it out with one another. Searching for the “philosopher’s stone” is no more than an academic exercise.  No psychologist offers eternal hope. No scientist inspires us to be more than star molecules. Literature gives insights  but  literature also mirrors  evil  and darkness.  Human answers to eternal questions are impossible, like fireflies claiming the sun.

Thomas Aquinas was the brilliant author of the Summa Theologica.  As a Doctor of the Church, he tried to reconcile Greek philosophy with Christianity and is considered to be one of Christianity’s greatest theologians. One night in 1273 he completely stopped writing. When asked why, Thomas replied: “I can write no more. All that I have written seems like straw.” Thomas never wrote another word and his work was never finished. What is one to think of that? I think that Thomas realized even his theology about God was futile. No matter what he wrote, it would not suffice to understand or explain God. Ultimately, apart from the Holy Spirit , all our thoughts   end up in the hay barn.

 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

The Word of God is alive and limitless because the Holy Spirit breathes it into us. God reveals Himself through his own Word  Jesus,  and through Jesus alone.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. John 1:1

I am still an unabashed book worm.  But I don’t t need libraries filled with books to teach me any more  because I’ve found  the Truth.  In a  single psalm like Psalm 119  the Holy Spirit offers  everything I ever sought and everything still necessary: truth, light, understanding, wisdom, restraint from evil, unchanging divine principles, , eternal precepts, discernment, and instructions sweeter than honey.

Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.  Your word is a l lamp to my feet and a light to my path.  Psalm 119:105-106

How vast is this library of One, the  opened up  Word of God!