God speaks.

Again one having the appearance

of a man touched me and strengthened

me. And he said, "O man greatly loved,

fear not, peace be with you; be strong

and of good courage."

Daniel 10:18,19

The following is from my favorite John Piper message. It struck me, because I got sucked in - he was talking like God spoke to him, personally, when he was away on a retreat. I got chills. And then he shared where God's Words to him could be found - Psalm 66:5-7. And, it was one of those awesome moments when my soul was awakened afresh to the wonder that is the Word of God on paper, for me to read.

"O how precious is the Bible. It is the very word of God. In it God speaks in the twenty-first century. This is the very voice of God. By this voice, he speaks with absolute truth and personal force. By this voice, he reveals his all-surpassing beauty. By this voice, he reveals the deepest secrets of our hearts. No voice anywhere anytime can reach as deep or lift as high or carry as far as the voice of God that we hear in the Bible.
It is a great wonder that God still speaks today through the Bible with greater force and greater glory and greater assurance and greater sweetness and greater hope and greater guidance and greater transforming power and greater Christ-exalting truth than can be heard through any voice in any human soul on the planet from outside the Bible." John Piper - The morning I heard the voice of God.

The relevance for my blog today? Well, my quote at the top comes from the passage that not only falls on the heels of the passage of my last blog, but when I shared with my Mom yesterday what God had showed me in Daniel nine, she pulled out her Bible, and read to me parts of Daniel ten. And, when I got home, and randomly flipped my Bible open, it fell to this passage. I love the thrill of reading my Bible this way. I figure God knows me, and He knows His Word. If I let my pages fall open "randomly" I trust Him to bring me to passages that apply to my daily situations. And He is faithful this way. And it is exciting.

So - He takes me to a word He has twice prepared me for this week. I say prepared, because it is hard for me to read words to His faithful servants, and trust that they apply to me. "O man, greatly loved...." But I know, I know what He has said to me "O daughter, greatly loved.... be strong and of good courage." I NEEDED this today, and God provided. Praise His holy name!