the power of scripture

I’ve finished reading The Heavenly Man. Again, I just want to recommend it to you. There’s an episode from this book that I want to share with you because I think it reflects the effectiveness and living power of the scriptures.

Brother Yun was imprisoned yet again for stirring up trouble as a pastor, being accused of being a counter-revolutionary. Because he had tried to escape, they broke both of his legs and left him unattended, causing both of his legs to swell and bruise and become pretty useless. They nick-named him “Cripple” because he could no longer walk. Needless to say, he was in unbearable pain and needed to be carried even to the toilet. He had been beaten and electrocuted and starved and left to lie in his own filth.

At this point, he sensed the Lord speaking to him through the book of Jeremiah. He had it memorized. He felt the Lord speak to him from Jeremiah that his sufferings were from the Lord. He began to pray the laments and complaints from Jeremiah. Then he sensed God respond to his laments through a promise, again out of Jeremiah. He then sensed the Lord reveal his deliverance, also out of Jeremiah. Brother Yun then began to praise God, again, out of the book of Jeremiah.

I thought this was so cool, that God is this kind of God that knows our sufferings, gives us words to complain about our sufferings to him with, gives us promises, assures us of victory, and supplies the vocabulary of praise… all in the scriptures. This is why I love the Bible so much. Which is why I love God so much. God, through the scriptures, articulates the conversation between him and me from the beginning to the end.