Romans 15:4 For whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning… The psalmists never hesitated to say that the Bible, as they had it, met all life's deepest necessities: "This is my comfort in my affliction, for Thy word hath quickened me" (Psalm 119:50); "I remember Thy judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself " (Psalm 119:52); "Unless Thy law had been my delight, I should then have perished in my affliction" (Psalm 119:92); "Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet Thy commandments are my delights" (Psalm 119:143). A book of which all this can be said the world will not willingly let die. Whatever is held by the heart is held longest. The friend that will sit up all night when we are in pain and weariness is not a friend we can easily cast off. Many a summer-holiday acquaintance we can well dismiss; but the friend that knows us, that sticketh closer than a brother, that is the same in winter and in summer, that is tenderer in affliction even than in joy, is a friend whose name will stand at the top, and will survive the going away of many whose affection was superficial, and whose relation to us, though ostentatious, was flimsy. If the psalmists could say all this, what can we say? If the dawn was so beautiful, what of the mid-day? If the spring was so trim, what of the harvest? (J. Parker, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. |
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