February 10 Wednesday

The Book To Treasure

Read: Psalm 19:7-11

I have treasured the words
of His mouth more than my
necessary food. -Job 23:12

Joseph Brodsky won the Nobel Prize for Literature and
was a US Poet Laureate. He proposed that books of
American poetry be placed next to Gideon Bibles in motel
rooms. “Poetry,” he reasoned, “is perhaps the only
insurance we’ve got against the vulgarity of the human
heart.” Before Brodsky’s death in 1996, many books had
already been distributed to hotels and hospitals.

Those of us who love poetry find in it pleasure,
wisdom, and inspiration. But even the best literature
cannot be compared to the value of the words of the
Bible.

Imagine a despairing soul on the verge of suicide
picking up a book of poetry and thumbing through its
pages. It’s highly unlikely that even the noble
thoughts of Henry W. Longfellow or John Greenleaf
Wittier, to say nothing of a modern poet like T.S.
Eliot, would inspire him to fall on his knees and cry
out to God for mercy and grace. Yet the Gideons’ files
are full of testimonies from individuals who, alone in
their hotel rooms, have opened a Bible and through its
message have been born again to newness of life.

Poetry has its honored place in our culture. But
human words, however creatively woven together, can
never take the place of God’s Word.
Vernon C. Grounds

A well-turned phrase and words that rhyme
Can give us inspiration,
Yet nothing but the Word of God
Can bring us His salvation. -Sper

MANY BOOKS CAN INFORM;
ONLY THE BIBLE CAN TRANSFORM.

OUR DAILY BREAD, Copyright 1999 by Radio Bible Class,
Grand Rapids,Michigan. Used by permission.