weeping over // scripture

Thinking this morning about a story that Rusty shared on Sunday of an experience he had while in seminary. The short of the story is that in the weariness of doing good, when he was at his end and ready to give up, he was pressed deeper into his work by the tears of a quadriplegic as he read scripture. The only response that he could give was to weep while the Scripture was read to him.

That took my mind back to January and Passion 2010. Francis Chan, the former pastor of Cornerstone Semi Valley spoke one evening and shared about how Scripture was coming alive to him and how he wanted to continually be in awe of what he was reading.

I made a little note to myself on Sunday that I want to be in constant awe and weep at these words that have been left behind for us. I don’t want to read them routinely, or read them because I feel obligated. These words were left by people who were running for their very lives, by people who were standing up to evil dictators/murderers. People who were facing a new and strange land they were told they would conquer. People who were told they would speak prophecy against an evil generation. People who were abandoning thousands of years of culture and tradition to follow a new way filled with hope.

When I think about this I am convicted that I take Scripture for granted and that I don’t read it filled with awe and wonder and weep over the fact that it was left for me so that I could find him in the midst of crazy world.