Today’s household object is the Bible itself and our passage is Acts 8:27-35, where Philip helps an Ethiopian reading Scripture to understand what he is reading.
The word ‘Bible’ simply means ‘book’, and we are privileged to have access to God’s word. The Bible is part of our spiritual furniture, just as it is part of the fixtures and fitting in some hotels to this day. Yet it is not enough to own a Bible or to have it on a shelf in our homes; we must pick up this wonderful book and read it to discover more about God and ourselves. Sometimes it can baffle us and bewilder us. We need to understand its many different genres (history, poetry, prophecy, factual accounts and letters); we need to delve into its context and culture to gain understanding.
This is one reason we are urged to come to church services and to do Bible studies, so that we can better understand the Bible and therefore can be taught by God. There are many resources available these days to help us read and understand the Bible, but the one thing which cannot be taught is the desire to actually open the book and read it. We have to have that desire to read, that willingness to wrestle with difficult passages, that hunger and thirst to know more of God. No one else can impart that to us. We have to pick up the book and read; we have to ask God to reveal Himself to us as we read. If we do that, we will find God Himself in the pages of this marvellous book.