Today's Devotional

 

November 25, 2008

                                                                                                                        

Subject:  The Bible Is Prophetic 

2 Peter 1:20 - "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." 

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I often hear strange things from my students at school.  Because I have a sharp tongue, I try hard to monitor my responses to their often ridiculous statements, allegations or "things they heard."  After the recent presidential election, one nice girl told the class that her mom found out that Barack is in the bible and that his election victory was a fulfillment of a biblical prophecy.  Trying to patronize the student somewhat, I asked if there had been a prophecy for any of the previous 43 president's.  I then asked about other names in the bible such as the Johns, Davids, Elijahs and so on.  "What about the fact that their names are also in the bible?"  Of course I would've loved to have had this discussion with her mom.

People sometimes treat the scripture this way.  It's what I call looking through the wrong side of the window.  See we can look at our lives and then try to find a word from God that explains it or we can look through His word and see how it explains our lives.  These are two totally different things.

Today we need to understand that the bible is indeed prophetic, but we don't determine the prophecies.  God does.  While God has a plan for each and every one of us, arrival at a point in that plan happens because we choose to follow Him; not because a similar old testament story uses our name or a name like ours.  Look through God's word and then interpret the world, but if you look at the world first, it's hard to interpret God.  

Carlen