The Important Book

 

Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

A year or so ago I gave my grandson Abram a devotional book that had some great science tie ins.  He loved it and when he and his dad finished reading it he told me that he needed another “important book.”  We were pretty close to Christmas so I made sure that one of his gifts was another devotional book.

          The other day he told me that his daddy is bad. I assumed my son had said no to something Abram wanted and I was partially right. The night before Abram had asked to read his “important book” and his dad told him he would have to wait. Abram has two younger siblings, one of whom is just a few months old, and he made his request right at bed and bath time on a night that dad was home alone with the kids. Abram is six and has the tenaciousness that is unique to boys of that age. Dad’s delay was not an acceptable situation.

          The end of the story is that dad did read from the book after the baby was settled down. Not a bad dad, just a busy one. Which Grammy pointed out to Abram. You’re welcome, Dad.

          What stayed with me was how attached Abram is to his “important book.”  It is a huge disappointment to him when they don’t get to read from it. He talks to me about the things he has learned from last year’s book and the current one. Reading from that book makes his day complete.

          Abram’s attachment to his book made me think. What if all of us adults, who confess Jesus with our lips, would be as attached to his Word? Does reading or not reading Scripture make or break your day?

          Isaiah 11:6b says, “and a little child will lead them.”  It would do us all some good to follow Abram’s lead and say,  “I have to read from my important book.”