Our son worked over 22 years for the local Chevrolet dealership and in his stall was a huge toolbox on wheels. Looked like he had every tool a person would ever need in that six and one half foot tall arsenal of tools. But, alas, whenever GM came out with a new model, there was a bulletin giving a number or description of another tool our son had to buy.

The IBM technician, back in the days before personal computers, had a neat looking black satchel he took on his service calls and to the onlooker it looked like every tool he needed was in that little black case. Of course every technician for any mechanical or electronic marvel manufactured had this same issue to face whenever a new model came on the market.

Never enough tools? Will it never end? Anyone familiar with the Bible could probably answer that naïve question by quoting Ecclesiastes 12:12b, “Of making many books [insert: “tools”] there is no end.” Every wannabe hobbyist, woodworker, you name it, always needs “another tool.”

In his book, “Cries of the Heart”, Ravi Zacharias carries his readers back to the wisdom of the great preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon when he wrote about “studying” God: “There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our tools are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity.” (See Chapter One, “The Cry to Know God” in Ravi Zacharias’ book, “Cries of the Heart”.)

Man will never have enough tools this side of Glory that he can sit back and say, “I know all about God.” When people ponder, “When I get to heaven the first thing I will do is sit down with the Apostle Paul and ask …” I usually have a few opinions to offer, mainly the line would be too great with people just waiting to talk to the Apostle Paul and I have it all figured out. Once ushered into the Gate of Heaven, we will see one of God’s saints seated at a table; they will beckon us to lean over and in an instant a tiny computer chip will be inserted into our foreheads and in that micro second “we will know it all”. Besides, Paul and all the other apostles and prophets will be too busy with whatever godly things Heaven will afford for us all and God will have better work for all of us than to sit around asking questions. But this scenario I have tried to paint with words does present further thoughts for us to ponder.

Once I read a suggestion for a daily Bible meditation by using the book of Proverbs as a Daily Resource of Meditations. There are thirty-one chapters in Proverbs and regardless of the number of days in a month, 28, 30 or 31 days, begin your day by reading one chapter of Proverbs. In this simple yet profound book you will learn sufficient information that will be a bulwark to your faith. You will find where and when “wisdom” began, you will read about timeless situations and circumstances that you may have thought were unique to your life — be prepared to learn “Nothing ever occurs to God”, rather, “it all begins with God!”

Start today, regardless of the exact day of the month we’re in, begin your daily meditations with the book of Proverbs (it follows the Book of Psalms, which is quite easy to find in most Bibles – right in the middle of the Bible). Perhaps, after several months of reading Proverbs over and over again, you might turn the pages of your Bible back to the Psalms and discover the wealth of prayers and praises that godly people have used for centuries as a bulwark for their faith. You may want to spend only a few days in Psalms (and return later). Turning beyond the book of Proverbs you will find the book of Ecclesiastes which is a relatively short book containing twelve chapters. In this book you will find how King Solomon discovered the reality of life. Read this book and catch a glimpse of how the richest man in the world arrived at conclusions that convinced him there is a time for everything. This book teaches man to stand in awe of God and his sovereignty and holiness. Put simply this means God possesses perfect knowledge and has no need to learn. We are the ones who need to learn and that begins when we set apart a special time in our day to shut the cares of this world out of our minds and open our minds to learn what God knows we need. The book of Ecclesiastes closes with a unique conclusion: “Now, all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

May the Lord guide you into a richer understanding of life.

THE WORDWRIGHT