Search the Scriptures
TEXT: DANIEL 9:1-3
Key verse: “In the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem” (Daniel 9:2).
The Nigerian President recently launched a programme tagged: ‘Bring Back The Book.’ No doubt, he had been irked by the present generation’s lethargy towards reading as a rewarding and desirable culture. ‘Bring Back The Book’ was therefore a wake-up call to return to book-reading culture and explore its abundant treasure.
In our text, a change of power had taken place and Darius the Medes had become the king over Babylon. This significant change prompted Daniel to search the scriptures to find out the prophetic significance of the capture of Babylon by the Persians. Through searching, he found out that Jeremiah had prophesied that the Jewish captivity would last seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11,12), and that period had almost come to an end. What a discovery!
Daniel was thus left with no other option than to go into a prayer of confession of the nation’s sin and to petition God to fulfill His word. Obviously, the fact of the captivity and its period were concealed in the scriptures and it took the probing mind of the prophet to discover these hidden facts.
The reward of searching the scriptures cannot be over stressed. It is in the scriptures that the mysteries of life and godliness are concealed. Reading opens our heart and mind to the wisdom of God and the great provision He has made for our return to Him and steadfast walk with Him. If the world is bothering about the dying culture of reading, the church ought to bother more about reading and meditating on the scriptures. Do you read your Bible everyday? You can start today.
Thought for today: The Bible is an endless maze of eternal verities – read and explore it.