Expression:
“And why this strange contradiction? It is because of the difficulties which studying the Bible presents. We must agree that on beginning it, there are many difficulties and obscurities; and, as much labour is required to clear them up, and the mind of man is naturally idle and lazy, we lose courage little by little and limit ourselves to reading the same scriptures over and over again. This unvaried sort of study hardly penetrates beneath the surface, nor does it learn new things; but always going over the same things repeatedly, inspires in us a kind of weariness, as if the Word of God was not interesting-as if it was not as inexhaustible as God Himself! Beware of thinking, however, that these difficulties are insuperable. No, my friends; but we must be prepared to take trouble; and there, as in prayer and in all parts of the Christian life, God wants man to be co-worker with Him. Knowledge of the Bible, taste for the Bible is the fruit and reward of this humble, sincere and persevering labour…If anyone, using by faith the resources which God puts at his disposal, and relying on God to guide him, follows out these thoughts of mine, which I can at this moment do little more than sketch, he will discover in the Word of God treasures which he never even suspected were there. Then it will become for him as firm a support as it was for Jesus, when He was tempted in the wilderness. And it will become for him what it was for the saints, in both the New Testament and in the Old Testament; what it was for David, and for Daniel, for Paul and all the saints of God.”
Voice: Adolphe Monod
Circumstance: Teaching
Citation: Monod, Adolphe. “A Dying Man’s Regrets 2”. The Study of the Word of God. 20 January 1856, 67.
Read More:
Living in the Hope of Glory: A New Translation of a Spiritual Classic
Adolphe Monod’s Farewell To His Friends And To The Church
Life And Letters Of Adolphe Monod, By One Of His Daughters (s.m.).
