13. NASB 1977

Giant Print Handy Size Reprint NASB 1977 Edition. 2011. AMG Publishers. 2304 pages.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This is my second time to read through the NASB 77. I still absolutely love, love, love, love, crazy love this translation. I could easily see this being 'the one' if I believed in such. I don't believe that there is 'the one' as in 'the one and only' when it comes to Bible translations. At least not for me personally. I have about five or six translations that are all my favorites. (For those that are curious, they are the BSB, NASB 77, NASB 95, ESV, KJV, NIV 84. In no particular order, I don't play favorites. The Bible in my hand is usually "my favorite." Usually. Not always). 

I loved, loved, loved so much about this bible. I loved the size of the font. Giant print isn't as GIANT as you might imagine. It's slightly bigger than a regular size font you'd find in just about any Bible from the 80s or 90s. But it was super-comfortable on my eyes. Not too big. Not too small.

It is double-column. I don't mind double column, especially with a nice size font.

It is red-letter. But red-letter in a "giant" size font isn't all that bad. I'd still prefer black letter, but it's not bad at all.

I loved the size of this one. It isn't too heavy. I don't know that I'd go so far as to say you could hold it comfortably up in bed to read it, but it isn't too heavy for normal use. It is the perfect weight for daily reading and for taking to church as well.

I loved the translation itself.

Quotes:

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd, 
            I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; 
            He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul; 
            He guides me in the paths of righteousness 
            For His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 
            I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; 
            Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; 
            Thou hast anointed my head with oil; 
            My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, 
            And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

John 14:1-6

“Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, thereyou may be also. “And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

2022 Bible Reading Update #34

Bible reading week of 20 - 26 August 2022.

I am reading the NASB 1977 for my Book of Common Prayer daily offices.

• Psalm 102-119
• Proverbs 20-26
• Ezekiel 
• Daniel
• Esther
• Revelation 1-18

For my morning devotions (with tea) I am reading the Beyond Suffering Bible NLT.

• Psalms 136-150
• Deuteronomy
• Proverbs
• Joshua 1-6

The NIV Tozer Bible. (I started this last week. I'm not 100% sure I'm going to keep going).

• Ezra
• Song of Songs
• Nehemiah
• Esther
• Job
• Ruth
• 1 Samuel 1-5
• Ecclesiastes

I have TWO ongoing year-long 30 Day MacArthur plans going. 

• In August, I will be reading Galatians 1-3 for thirty days: NASB 2020, KJV, BSB, NLT, ESV, BSB, NIV 84
• In August, I will be reading Isaiah 40-43 for thirty days: NASB 2020, KJV, BSB, NLT,  ESV, BSB, NIV 84

ESV Gospel Transformation Bible:

• Judges 13-21
• Ruth
• 1 Samuel 
• 1 Timothy
• 2 Timothy

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

2022 Bible Reading Update #33

Bible reading week of 13 - 19 August 2022.

I am reading the NASB 1977 for my Book of Common Prayer daily offices.

• Psalm 68-101
• Proverbs 13-19
• Jeremiah 
• Lamentations
• John 14-21
• 1 John
• 2 John
• 3 John
• Jude

For my morning devotions (with tea) I am reading the Beyond Suffering Bible NLT.

• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Psalm 42-135

I finished the Revised English Bible.

• 1 Chronicles 10-29
• 2 Chronicles
• Ezekiel

I began reading the NIV Tozer Bible.

• 1 Chronicles 
• 2 Chronicles
• Galatians

I have TWO ongoing year-long 30 Day MacArthur plans going. 

• In August, I will be reading Galatians 1-3 for thirty days: NASB 77, LSB, ESV, NKJV, BSB, LSB, ESV
• In August, I will be reading Isaiah 40-43 for thirty days: NASB 77, LSB, ESV, NKJV, BSB, LSB, ESV  

ESV Gospel Transformation Bible:

• Deuteronomy 19-34
• Joshua
• Judges 1-12

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

12. Revised English Bible

Holy Bible: Revised English Bible. 1989/1996. Cambridge. 1264 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The Revised English Bible is a revision of the New English Bible. Since I (re)read the New English Bible earlier this year (in June), I thought it would be good to (re)read this one as well. I read these two translations back in 2017. I always knew I'd want to reread them. This was the year.

It is a British translation. And I really loved that about it: honour, splendour, marvellous, defence, offence, etc.

My overall impression is that I liked it; I definitely liked it. I didn't love, love, love it: primarily because word choices can be very telling in certain verses. But mostly I liked it. (I can't think of any examples offhand of verses I didn't like. I didn't make notes for them.)

My biggest complaint is that I have yet to find an edition of this bible with font size large enough for my poor, poor eyes. I have two copies of this one--both with small print. To my knowledge, I have not come across this translation on any of the popular sites or apps. And I have not come across it as a kindle book. So it's teeny tiny print or nothing. 

Gospel of John:

In the beginning the Word already was. The Word was in God’s presence, and what God was, the Word was. He was with God at the beginning, and through him all things came to be; without him no created thing came into being. In him was life, and that life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never mastered it. John 1:1-5

No one has gone up into heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, in order that everyone who has faith may in him have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in him may not perish but have eternal life. It was not to judge the world that God sent his Son into the world, but that through him the world might be saved. No one who puts his faith in him comes under judgment; but the unbeliever has already been judged because he has not put his trust in God’s only Son. This is the judgement: the light has come into the world, but people preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil. Wrongdoers hate the light and avoid it, for fear their misdeeds should be exposed. Those who live by the truth come to the light so that it may be clearly seen that God is in all they do. John 3:13-21

His word has found no home in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent. You study the scriptures diligently, supposing that in having them you have eternal life; their testimony points to me, yet you refuse to come to me to receive that life. John 5:38-40

My own sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my care. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s care. The Father and I are one. John 10:27-30

Set your troubled hearts at rest. Trust in God always; trust also in me. There are many dwelling-places in my Father’s house; if it were not so I should have told you; for I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I shall come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also. John 14:1-3

Hebrews:

• He is the radiance of God’s glory, the stamp of God’s very being, and he sustains the universe by his word of power. When he had brought about purification from sins, he took his seat at the right hand of God’s Majesty on high, raised as far above the angels as the title he has inherited is superior to theirs. Hebrews 1:3-4
• In bringing many sons to glory it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings; Hebrews 2:10
• Because he himself has passed through the test of suffering, he is able to help those who are in the midst of their test. Hebrews 2:18
• The word of God is alive and active. It cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword, piercing so deeply that it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it discriminates among the purposes and thoughts of the heart. Nothing in creation can hide form him; everything lies bare and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render account. Hebrews 4:12-13
• Since therefore we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to the faith we profess. Ours is not a high priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in every way as we are, only without sinning. Let us therefore boldly approach the throne of grace, in order that we may receive mercy and find grace to give us timely help. Hebrews 4:14-16
• Jesus holds a perpetual priesthood, because he remains for ever. That is why he is able to save completely those who approach God through him, since he is always alive to plead on their behalf. Hebrews 7:24-25
• So now, my friends, the blood of Jesus makes us free to enter the sanctuary with confidence by the new and living way which he has opened for us through the curtain, the way of his flesh. We have a great priest set over the household of God; so let us make our approach in sincerity of heart and the full assurance of faith, inwardly cleansed from a guilty conscience, and outwardly washed with pure water. Let us be firm and unswerving in the confession of our hope, for the giver of the promise is to be trusted. Hebrews 10:19-23
• Faith gives substance to our hopes and convinces us of realities we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
• With this great cloud of witnesses around us, therefore, we too must throw off every encumbrance and the sin that all too readily restricts us, and run with resolution the race which lies ahead of us, our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay ahead of him, he endured the cross, ignoring its disgrace, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2
• Aim at peace with everyone and holy life, for without that no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14
• The kingdom we are given is unshakeable; let us therefore give thanks to God for it, and so worship God as he would be worshipped, with reverence and awe; for our God is a devouring fire. Hebrews 12:28-29
• Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever. So do not be swept off your course by all sorts of outlandish teachings. Hebrews 13:8-9a
• May the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of an eternal covenant, make you perfect in all goodness so that you may do his will; and may he create in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever! Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21

Psalms:

Bless the LORD, my soul; with all my being I bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, my soul, and forget none of his benefits. He pardons all my wrongdoing and heals all my ills. He rescues me from death’s pit and crowns me with love and compassion. He satisfies me with all good in the prime of life, and my youth is renewed like an eagle’s. The LORD is righteous in all he does; he brings justice to all who have been wronged. Psalm 103:1-6

LORD, out of the depths I have called to you; hear my cry, Lord; let your ears be attentive to my supplication. If you, LORD, should keep account of sins, who could hold his ground? But with you is forgiveness, so that you may be revered. I wait for the LORD with longing; I put my hope in his word. My soul waits for the Lord more eagerly than watchmen for the morning. Like those who watch for the morning, let Israel look for the LORD, for in the LORD is love unfailing, and great is his power to deliver. He alone will set Israel free from all their sins. Psalm 130:1-8

Philippians:

I wish you joy in the Lord always. Again I say: all joy be yours. Philippians 4:4

Do not be anxious, but in everything make your requests known to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Then the peace of God, which is beyond all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. And now, my friends, all that is true, all that is noble, all that is just and pure, all that is lovable and attractive, whatever is excellent and admirable—fill your thoughts with these things. Philippians 4:6-8

I am able to face anything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

Isaiah:

For a child has been born to us, a son is given to us; he will bear the symbol of dominion on his shoulder, and his title will be: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty Hero, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace, Wide will be the dominion and boundless the peace bestowed on David’s throne and on his kingdom to establish and support it with justice and righteousness from now on, for evermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will do this. Isaiah 9:6-7

Who could have believed what we have heard? To whom has the power of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before the LORD like a young plant whose roots are in parched ground; he had no beauty, no majesty to catch our eyes, no grace to attract us to him. He was despised, shunned by all, pain-racked and afflicted by disease; we despised him, we held him of no account, an object from which people turn away their eyes. Yet it was our afflictions he was bearing, our pain he endured, while we thought of him as smitten by God, struck down by disease and misery. But he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement he bore restored us to health and by his wounds we are healed. We had all strayed like sheep, each of us going his own way, but the LORD laid on him the guilt of us all. He was maltreated, yet he was submissive and did not open his mouth; like a sheep led to the slaughter, like a ewe that is dumb before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was arrested and sentenced and taken away, and who gave a thought to his fate—how we was cut off from the world of the living, stricken to death for my people’s transgression? He was assigned a grave with the wicked, a burial place among felons, though he had done no violence, had spoken no word of treachery. Yet the LORD took thought for his oppressed servant and healed him who had given himself as a sacrifice for sin. He will enjoy long life and see his children’s children, and in his hand the LORD’s purpose will prosper. By his humiliation my servant will justify many; after his suffering he will see light and be satisfied; it is their guilt he bears. Therefore I shall allot him a portion with the great, and he will share the spoil with the mighty, because he exposed himself to death and was reckoned among transgressors, for he bore the sin of many and interceded for transgressors. Isaiah 53:1-12

Seek the LORD while he is present, call to him while he is close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their ways and the evil their thoughts: let them return to the LORD, who will take pity on them, and to our God, for he will freely forgive. Isaiah 55:6-7

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways. This is the word of the LORD. But as the heavens are high above the earth, so are my ways high above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts. As the rain and snow come down from the heavens and do not return there without watering the earth, making it produce grain to give seed for sowing and bread to eat, so it is with my word issuing from my mouth; it will not return to me empty without accomplishing my purpose and succeeding in the task for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:8-11

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

32. The Cross

The Cross: God's Way of Salvation. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. 1963/1986. Crossway. 224 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: First sentence from the introduction: Can you remember what you were doing when you heard the news that President Kennedy had been assassinated?

Premise/plot: In the fall of 1963, Martyn Lloyd-Jones was preaching a sermon series on Galatians 6:14 which reads, ‘God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.’ These sermons have been published in book form as The Cross. Lloyd-Jones did not interrupt his sermon series to address the assassination of President Kennedy, but, it did trouble him and he incorporated it into his next sermon.

The Cross features nine sermons: "The Wondrous Cross," "The Acid Test," "The Wisdom of God," "Love Not the World," "The Triumph of the Cross," "He Is Our Peace," "The Cross of Christ Speaks," "A New Nature," and "Bought Out and Set Free." All nine sermons share a single Scripture verse as their basis. All nine sermons are Christ-centered. All nine sermons include an invitation to unbelievers.

My thoughts: I loved, loved, loved, LOVED rereading Martyn Lloyd-Jones The Cross. I read it during Passion Week and finished up on Good Friday. It is one of those books that you should reread every other year or so. It's just that good. Christians should never tire of the gospel, of the cross. Christians should never be bored or dismissive of the good news. It should humble us and excite us. It should lead to worship and praise. It should lead to repentance and obedience. It should make us want more, more, more of Christ in our lives. 

ETA: This is my THIRD time to read Martyn Lloyd-Jones The Cross. I read it in 2017 and 2019. This is a WONDERFUL theological read. It is both substantive and devotional. It clearly and concisely illumines what the gospel is all about--the cross. It is thought-provoking. I love it so much. 

Quotes:

• The whole of the New Testament is proclaiming the blood of Christ, the death of Christ upon the cross, on Calvary. It is the heart and centre of the Christian evangel, the good news of salvation.
• If he had not died upon the cross, nobody would ever have been saved. There would be no gospel to preach. It is the saving event.
• It does not ask us to save ourselves, it does not tell us to do something that will save us, it says it is done, it has happened, it was happening there. That is the gospel.
• Any man who is saved, is saved by the cross, and to be saved means that your sins are forgiven, that you are reconciled to God.
• You will never understand the significance of what happened there until you are clear about who it was that was dying there. Who is this person in the middle nailed to a tree?
• My friends, the Son of God is there dying on that cross because he came from heaven into this world in order to die.
• He came because you and I and all mankind are guilty and under the condemnation of a Holy God.
• Man is a guilty sinner, God is a holy God. How can the two be brought together? The answer is the cross of Christ.
• The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is either an offence to us or else it is the thing above everything else in which we glory.
• The test of whether someone is teaching the cross rightly or wrongly is whether it is an offence to the natural man or not. If my preaching of this cross is not an offence to the natural man, I am misrepresenting it. If it is something that makes him say how beautiful, how wonderful, what a tragedy, what a shame, I have not been preaching the cross truly.
• There is nobody born a Christian into this world. We have to be born again to become Christians, and while we are natural men and women, the cross is an offence.
• If you want to know God, if you want to know the everlasting and eternal God, this is the way, the only way. Look there, gaze, meditate, survey, the wondrous cross. And then you will see something of him.
• Grace is a great word in the Bible, the grace of God. It is most simply defined in these words—it is favour shown to people who do not deserve any favour at all. And the message of the gospel is that any one of us is saved and put right for eternity, solely and entirely by the grace of God, not by ourselves.
• If you think you deserve heaven, take it from me you are not a Christian. Now, that is a very good definition of a Christian. Any man who thinks that he deserves heaven is not a Christian. But for any man who knows that he deserves hell, there is hope.
• Sin is a matter of attitude. And what makes sin sin, is that it is rebellion against God. It is to disobey God; it is to trample upon the sanctities of God. It is unrighteousness; it is transgression of God’s law.  Indeed, it is worse. It is a hatred of God.
• We are all naturally God-haters, and if you have not realized that, you have not known these things very deeply. And if you think you have always believed in God, it is because you have had a God of your own creation, not the God of the Bible.
• Why did he die? He died for the souls of men, not for our material welfare, not to reform this world, but to save our souls.
• From beginning to end the message of the Bible, this revelation of God, is that there is to be an end to the world, and that the end is judgement. The Christ of God will come back into this world and he will return to judge it.
• Now you see why Paul glories in the cross. It is the cross alone that saves any one of us from the destruction which is coming to the world. 
• I am not called to preach against, I am called to hold a Saviour forth.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

2022 Bible Reading Update #32

Bible reading week of 6 - 12 August 2022. 

I am reading the NASB 1977 for my Book of Common Prayer daily offices.

• Psalms 30-67
• Proverbs 6-12
• Isaiah 13-66
• John 1-13
• Jude

For my morning devotions (with tea) I am reading the Beyond Suffering Bible NLT.

• Exodus 
• Psalm 1-41
• Mark 

I am reading the Revised English Bible for my afternoon devotions. Using the Horner plan (modified).

• Deuteronomy 27-34
• 1 Chronicles 1-9
• Psalm 38-
• Jeremiah 
• Daniel
• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malachi
• Matthew 6-16
• Luke 5-12
• John 5-12
• Romans 2-8
• 2 Timothy
• Titus 
• Philemon

I have TWO ongoing year-long 30 Day MacArthur plans going. 

• In August, I will be reading Galatians 1-3 for thirty days: NRSV, BSB, LSB, BSB, ESV, NASB 95, BSB
• In August I will be reading Isaiah 40-43 for thirty days: NRSV, BSB, LSB, BSB, ESV, NASB 95, BSB, 

ESV Gospel Transformation Bible:

• Deuteronomy 1-18
• 2 Chronicles 10-36
• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Esther
• 1 Thessalonians
• 2 Thessalonians

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

31. I Belong

I Belong: Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 1 for Children. Joyce Holstege. Illustrated by Meagan Krosschell. 2022. 48 pages. [Source: Review copy]

What is thy only comfort in life and death?

That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, CRAZY LOVE the Heidelberg Catechism. And the first question is the ABSOLUTE BEST. But you may have noticed that it uses a lot of big words, big concepts, and is, well, perhaps not the most accessibly phrased. I still love, love, love it--as an adult. But wouldn't it be wonderful if this oh-so-amazing catechism question could be broken down in such a way as to be truly accessible to children....

Joyce Holstege's picture book does just that. Each two page spread breaks down a phrase of the first question and answer. It is not an either/or. Readers get the original phrasing + additional explanations and paraphrases. Each explanation reads like a devotional. I would, in fact, recommend treating the book as such. Going through the book slowly-but-surely with children. Reading it together. Perhaps taking turns reading aloud with older children. But this is definitely something that I think parents and children should do together. Just a spread--possibly two--each day. Perhaps even reviewing previous spreads you've read before to revisit the material.

It does do a gospel invitation-presentation. Or perhaps a 'theology 101' if you will. These are some legitimate, substantive questions. This book covers the basics of the faith. 

Link to the publisher's site Reformed Free Publishing Association.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

2022 Bible Reading Week #31

Bible reading week of 30 July - 5 August 2022

I am reading the NASB 1977 for my Book of Common Prayer daily offices.

• Psalms 144-150; Psalm 1-29
• Proverbs 29-31; Proverbs 1-5
• 2 Kings
• Isaiah 1-12
• Luke 9-24
• 1 Peter
• 2 Peter

For my morning devotions (with tea) I am reading the Beyond Suffering Bible NLT.

• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Habakkuk
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malachi
• Genesis 
• Matthew 

I am reading the Revised English Bible for my afternoon devotions. Using the Horner plan (modified).

• Deuteronomy 11-26
• Esther
• Psalm 14-37
• Ecclesiastes 2-12
• Isaiah 16-66
• Jonah
• Micah 
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Matthew 1-5
• Mark 8-16
• Luke 1-4
• John 1-4
• Acts 22-28
• Romans 1
• Colossians 2-4
• 1 Thessalonians
• 2 Thessalonians
• 1 Timothy 1-6
• James 4-5
• Jude
• Revelation 17-22

I have TWO ongoing year-long 30 Day MacArthur plans going. 

• In August, I will be reading Galatians 1-3 for thirty days: NASB 77, BSB, NASB 2020, ESV, BSB, NASB 77
• In August I will be reading Isaiah 40-43 for thirty days: NASB 77, BSB, NASB 2020, ESV, BSB, NASB 77

ESV Gospel Transformation Bible:

• Zechariah 7-14
• Malachi
• Numbers 
• 1 Chronicles 
• 2 Chronicles 1-9
• 1 Peter 1-5
• 2 Peter 1-3

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

30. The Knowledge of the Holy

The Knowledge of the Holy. A.W. Tozer. 1961/1978. HarperCollins. 128 pages. [Source: Book I Bought]

First sentence from chapter one: What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, justas her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God.

I have read A.W. Tozer's Knowledge of the Holy five times now, I believe. I reviewed it in 2012, 2014, 2017, 2021 and 2022. It is one of my all-time favorite books to read and reread. Every time I reread this one different passages leap out at me being super relevant. 

Can a book be both theological and devotional? It's a tricky combination to pull off, I think. But A.W. Tozer's classic Knowledge of the Holy is one of the best examples I've ever read. It is both theological--of substance and depth--and devotional--written with the pure intent to make your heart love and love greatly your Lord and Savior. Why learn more about God? So you can love him more, so you can worship him in spirit and truth. Tozer is urging readers to meditate on God, to meditate on God's glory--his majesty. He's saying DELIGHT IN GOD.  

It is a short book that I'd recommend to just about anyone. It is a book EVERY Christian needs to consider picking up. Even if you're not typically a reader of theology.

Knowledge of the Holy is very reader-friendly. Each chapter is short--just three or four pages, which is why I think it would be a great choice for a devotional. The content has weight to it--it is a book ABOUT God how could it be anything else? Yet. At the same time, it is written in a style that is simple and straight-forward.  

 

Why read A.W. Tozer's The Knowledge of the Holy?

Because…"It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is."

Because…"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

Because…"Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true."

Because... "If we insist upon trying to imagine Him, we end with an idol, made not with hands but with thoughts; and an idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand."

Because…"We can never know who or what we are till we know at least something of what God is."

Because…"It is not a cheerful thought that millions of us who live in a land of Bibles, who belong to churches and labor to promote the Christian religion, may yet pass our whole life on this earth without once having thought or tried to think seriously about the being of God."

Technically, all those reasons are reasons to read the Good Book, the Word of God, Holy Scriptures. But I think the Holy Spirit can and will use Tozer's words--long after he's dead--to inspire new generations to seek God.

Favorite quotes:

It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is.

Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God.

That our idea of God correspond as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.

Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.

The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is - in itself a monstrous sin - and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness. Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges.

A god begotten in the shadows of a fallen heart will quite naturally be no true likeness of the true God.

The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place.

The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true.

If we insist upon trying to imagine Him, we end with an idol, made not with hands but with thoughts; and an idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand.

The study of the attributes of God, far from being dull and heavy, may for the enlightened Christian be a sweet and absorbing spiritual exercise. To the soul that is athirst for God, nothing could be more delightful.

An attribute of God is whatever God has in any way revealed as being true of Himself.

An attribute, as we can know it, is a mental concept, an intellectual response to God's self-revelation. It is an answer to a question, the reply God makes to our interrogation concerning himself.

The doctrine of the divine unity means not only that there is but one God; it means also that God is simple, uncomplex, one with Himself. He need not suspend one to exercise another, for in Him all His attributes are one. All of God does all that God does; He does not divide himself to perform a work, but works in the total unity of His being.

The divine attributes are what we know to be true of God. He does not possess them as qualities; they are how God is as He reveals Himself to His creatures. Love, for instance, is not something God has and which may grow or diminish or cease to be. His love is the way God is, and when He loves He is simply being Himself.

To meditate on the three Persons of the Godhead is to walk in thought through the garden eastward in Eden and to tread on holy ground.

Because we are the handiwork of God, it follows that all our problems and their solutions are theological.

The fact of God is necessary to the fact of man. Think God away and man has no ground of existence.

Sin has many manifestations but its essence is one. A moral being, created to worship before the throne of God, sits on the throne of his own selfhood and from that elevated position declares, "I AM." That is sin in its concentrated essence; yet because it is natural it appears to be good. It is only when in the gospel the soul is brought before the face of the Most Holy One without the protective shield of ignorance that the frightful moral incongruity is brought home to the conscience. In the language of evangelism the man who is thus confronted by the fiery presence of Almighty God is said to be under conviction.

The Christian religion has to do with God and man, but its focal point is God, not man. Man's only claim to importance is that he was created in the divine image; in himself he is nothing.

Unbelief is actually perverted faith, for it puts its trust not in the living God but in dying men.

For every man it must be Christ or eternal tragedy. 

Abounding sin is the terror of the world, but abounding grace is the hope of mankind.

The Christian witness through the centuries has been that "God so loved the world . . ."; it remains for us to see that love in the light of God's infinitude. His love is measureless. It is more: it is boundless. It has no bounds because it is not a thing but a facet of the essential nature of God. His love is something He is, and because He is infinite that love can enfold the whole created world in itself and have room for ten thousand times ten thousand worlds beside.

God cannot change for the better. Since He is perfectly holy, He has never been less holy than He is now and can never be holier than He is and has always been. Neither can God change for the worse. Any deterioration within the unspeakably holy nature of God is impossible. Indeed I believe it impossible even to think of such a thing, for the moment we attempt to do so, the object about which we are thinking is no longer God but something else and someone less than He.

In God no change is possible; in men change is impossible to escape. 

God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was when He drove out the sinful man from the eastward garden, and His attitude toward the sinner the same as when He stretched forth His hands and cried, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

God will not compromise and He need not be coaxed. He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part. "I am the Lord, I change not."

We can hold a correct view of truth only by daring to believe everything God has said about Himself.

We do God more honor by believing what He has said about Himself and having the courage to come boldly to the throne of grace than by hiding in self-conscious humility among the trees of the garden.

Hell is a place of no pleasure because there is no love there. Heaven is full of music because it is the place where the pleasures of holy love abound. Earth is the place where the pleasures of love are mixed with pain, for sin is here, and hate and ill will. In such a world as ours love must sometimes suffer, as Christ suffered in giving Himself for His own.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible