Thank God for Books!

It's me. I was the one gallivanting about England and France during the month of June. A graduation gift for my daughter. What an experience. I had picked up my copy of Religious Affections and started reading it before I left. Inside the cover it said, "A Record of this Publication is available from the British Library." We had already planned on dropping by the British Library even before I read that. I am a lover of books and libraries and didn't want to miss seeing one of the best ones. As a child, my parents once punished me by not allowing me to go to the library for a week. I was devastated. Talk about a 4-eyed geek.

I wasn't disappointed in the British Library. Funny thing though...I expected to be bowled over by the Gutenberg Bible. It was impressive but what I found even more awe-inspiring was the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the earliest extant Bibles. Here's what http://www.codex-sinaiticus.net/ has to say about it: "Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books in the world. Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament."

Laying open in a glass case in front of me was this delicate vellum parchment perserved since the 300's. Our God is amazing. He made sure to preserve a complete copy of His Word so that all of us in the year 2009 could simply open up our Bibles and read with confidence. After cruising through the British Museum and seeing how idol after stone idol was perserved, it was amazing to see this fragile book containing the complete word of God laying before me. My soul was deeply moved.

I thank God for books! I thank God that the Creator of the Universe is a writer. He actually communicated with His creation and made sure His thoughts were written down and preserved for us. I thank God for people like Jonathan Edwards and others like him who write books about God's thoughts. Take some time this summer to slow down. Read. Read the love letter that is the Bible. Read what others have learned about the Lover of our Souls. And then take some time to thank God for preserving His Word. Thank God for His Book!