Anna wanted a digital clock. After all, Nathan had one, and she was now 4 years old. So last week, we found an old digital clock and put it on her dresser, directly across from her bed so she could see the red numbers at all times.
One morning at 6:19am, I was awoken to her yelling, ‘Can I get upppppppp?’ I groggily went to her room and told her it wasn’t time to get up. “Go back to bed, Anna.”
She said, “Momma said I could get up at 9 o’clock.”
“But it’s not 9 o’clock yet Anna,” I responded.
“Yes it is,” she said. “There’s a 9 right there.” (on the right side).
Now I understood. “But Anna, the 9 has to be on the left side, not the right,” I explained.
Her response was classic 4-year old logic. “But I want it to be on the other side!!!” she wailed.
When I read my Bible, sometimes, I don’t want to read that chapter, or that book. If I don’t have an answer for something, or the passage confuses me, or seems to be the opposite of what I believe at first glance, my first inclination is to disregard it. I want to say, “But I don’t want to deal with that part of the Bible.”
But Anna’s reaction reminded me, that some things aren’t up for debate. We read time from left to right.
Similarly, every word in the Bible, is in there for a reason. 2 Timothy 3:16 says that, ” All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”
That includes Revelation which I am currently reading with my son (he likes all the numbers), and Jeremiah which I was reading with a friend and shows a very angry side of God.
It all has a purpose. All of the black words and the red words contain a message of reconciliation. God wants to have a relationship with us so badly, that He will do anything. As I am learning in Jeremiah, He will let us wander away and try and do things our way, with the hope that we will return and walk in His perfect way.
So I have a question for you. Which way are you reading your alarm clock?
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