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The Bible is more acknowledged than believed; and where it is believed, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, it seldom gives that decision to our purposes, that spring to our actions, which it ought to give.

I. First, THEN, AS TO THE CLOSENESS WITH WHICH IT ADDRESSES THE SOUL, AND THE PATERNAL FAMILIARITY OF ITS STYLE. Why is it that sensible persons rejoice in having a pious, well-informed and accessible neighbour? It seems almost childish to ask. But the answer is, "Because his word is very nigh unto them" because they have the benefit of his counsel, his stock of knowledge, which is freely and benevolently open to them, and they are sure that at all times he will be influenced by upright and conscientious motives in advising them. But there is more than this in it. They look to his example — to his thoughts and sayings carried out in his actions. They are conscious of its influence on themselves and those around them; and they value it. And the nearer it is to them — the more available it also is to them and the more influential; yes, even when through perversity they struggle against its influence. Now, the Word of God is such a neighbour, only of infinite instead of finite, of Divine instead of human wisdom, goodness, and power of exhortation. It is, as the text says, "very nigh unto us." I do not take the words figuratively. I moan that it is, by its very cast and structure, by its very form and style, nigh to us, at hand to our hearts and minds, to our understandings and feelings. It is nigh as a teacher: it is nigh as a counsellor: it is nigh as a setter forth of example. Consider how largely, too, God speaks in the Bible to man by man; I do not mean merely through the pen of man, for that, of course, is true of all Scripture, but by the speech of man as man, partaking of all our natural views, feelings, hopes, fears. What a familiar tone, without lowering any of its dignity, does the Word of God thus take with us! How "very nigh" it comes to us!

II. The second I would take occasion to illustrate from the words "IN THY MOUTH": "The Word is very nigh thee, in thy mouth." It was said that this indicates that the Word of God was to be avowedly our counsellor. We were intended to cite it as commandment and promise to us, as our law and Gospel. This is clearly laid down and exemplified. It will be remembered how emphatically it was charged Joshua: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth" (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 119:46). What was the conviction which sustained the martyrs of old in their freedom of speech, in bonds, and at the stake? Was it not this, that it was not their own word, but the Word of God, which they had in their mouths?

III. The next clause in our text descends to WHERE THAT POWER CENTRES AND FIXES ITSELF. "And in thy heart," Again the Psalmist is our expounder: "Thy Word have I hid in my heart" (Psalm 119:11); "Thy law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8). The patriarch Job had counselled this: "Lay up God's words in thy heart" (Job 22:22). And here seems to be the place in which we may aptly refer to the application of our text by the same apostle writing to the Romans (Romans 10:6-10). Yes, it is to be heart work — the Word "in the heart" — else it will be of no purpose that it be in the mouth. But is it so constituted as to speak to the heart, to go to the heart? That is the question to our present purpose. It is; after an inimitable manner, and with inimitable force. So then is the Word of inspiration framed to be embraced by affections though they may be debased, and to dwell in them though they be yet enslaved.

IV. Now, in the last place, the emphatical passage which is guiding our reflections asserts that "the Word is very nigh unto us that we may DO IT." This pronounces obedience to it to be the necessary proof of a believing reception of it. Most amply is this test elsewhere recognised in it. "Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven" (Exodus 20:22), said the Lord to the children of Israel: "Ye shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments" (Leviticus 18:5). And they said, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do (Exodus 19:8). "Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only" (James 1:22), is a precept as ancient as the Word itself. But our inquiry is, whether it be invested with any impressiveness, exclusively its own, of a practical tendency. For, if so, in this most important respect, too, the Bible will be its own witness. The answer is, Come and see! Who indeed is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:5.) Now "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). I have thus endeavoured to show that the Bible in itself, being an inspired composition, is thereby endued with an influential bearing, close and direct, upon the affections and conduct, as well as on the profession, of all who really study it, or listen to it with any willingness, even a passive willingness, to profit by it. The Bible, as those who are most grateful for it will most readily own, is but the instrument of God's Holy Spirit. And it is not an instrument that will act mechanically on the soul: there must be prayer, continual prayer, as the Bible itself teaches, for its progressive operation upon us.

(W. Dalby, M. A.)

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KJV: For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.

WEB: For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.