5 minute read
A GOOD BOOK by Rich Langton
A GOOD BOOK
Words: Rich Langton
I’m not sure what you do in your free time, but I like to read. Not all the time, but definitely some of the time.
I’m not a fast reader by any means, and I’m not sure as prolific as some, but I do enjoy the pace of it. It’s not fast, but there are life-changing discoveries to be made from the investment others have made into writing good books.
So, I’m always on the lookout for the next good book. It’s often the title that draws me in. I think that’s why I was attracted to a book I stumbled upon recently called “The Unseen Realm” by Micheal Heiser.
Turns out, he’s a scholar in the fields of biblical studies and the ancient Near East, and he is a Scholarin-Residence at Faithlife, the makers of Logos Bible Software.
I knew none of that at the time. I just read the title and if I’m honest I thought it sounded kind of out there… but something sparked my interest. I must admit, to start with I thought that it was NOT the sort of book I’d read, and obviously therefore not recommend. But then I read the sub-title and that was what got me hooked. The full title of the book is “The Unseen Realm: Recovering The Supernatural Worldview of The Bible”.
When I read that, it grabbed my attention and has stayed with me for some weeks now. It immediately made me think, what does it mean to have the supernatural worldview of the Bible?
It jolted me out of the now, and out of all the “stuff” of life in the here and now. It reminded me, with that one simple statement, there is more, much more, going on in the world than I usually think about or recognise. It was just the right thing for me, right when I needed it.
It made me remember that there’s always more going on than we can see. There’s more going on in the world, more than the circumstances that I am aware of. There’s more than a pandemic and more than a lockdown going on.
Reading that statement, “recovering the supernatural worldview of the Bible” was a reminder that you and I are people of faith. Faith in things we can’t see. Faith in a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing and everpresent. We stand on His word as the foundation for this belief. We know He has gone before us, goes ahead of us, and is with us now. And yet, I wonder if you are like me and sometimes forget what the breadth of all this means?
We forget the reality of who the God is that we serve. Sometimes we forget the big picture of what He’s said. Not just what Jesus did on the cross and in His resurrection, but all God has promised for the days to come. Maybe we forget that He’s still at work and that His plan is being outworked.
It seems the world around us can instead surround us. It can squash our faith and it can appear to be all there is. If we’re not careful, it can take our focus and attention. In fact, our phones and the online world is designed to do just that… to attract and distract and to take our attention.
And yet, the reality of our faith, of who we are, isn’t based on what we can see, or the situations we find ourselves in. The basis of our faith is the word of God… and in the word of God, the people of God have always had a supernatural worldview. They believed that not only was God with them but that His entire Kingdom was with them, fighting for them in the heavenly realms. And not only that, but that the God who is with them is Holy and Sovereign. They believed that God is good and that He would do good, and that if things had not yet come to pass as he had said they would, then it was not over! Not only that, but I forget that He has promised to reconcile ALL THINGS. In other words, to make all things right. Where there has been injustice, He will bring justice. Where evil has had its way, He will avenge. He will heal, restore, and make right.
The reality is, there is an unseen realm, with an unseen God who presides over it. It’s this God who has adopted us into His family. He has made us His own. And He will NOT allow us to be abandoned.
When I stop to think about who our God is, and to dive deep into His word and to dwell on it, I come away remembering that we have nothing to lose, we are not alone, we are not in trouble, and we are not living through circumstances that He is unaware of.
Which is why I write today. I write to remind you of who God is and what His word declares. I write to encourage you to dive headlong into Scripture and to rekindle a heart that burns for things that are unseen. May you remember that your prayers are worth praying, they are heard and will be answered. May you hold firmly to your relationship with Jesus and your faith in what’s to come.
Our God won’t leave things half-done. He won’t forget or stop until His will is complete. He is with you, and He will carry you now, and forever.
And while I realise these are lofty things to write, I pray that they will in some way be the encouragement you need at a time when you need it. I pray you too will be inspired to remember that while we believe in an unseen God, we can be confident in who He is and what is to come, by looking to His living word and ever encouraging scriptures.
Anyways, as I said earlier, I like to read. How about you?
