"Aa-choo! I sneezed as my husband and I were sitting at the table reading our Bibles after breakfast. I must be allergic to something, I thought. I'd been sneezing and grabbing tissues all morning. But to what? I'm pretty consistent about keeping up with my allergy meds, and the pollen that was so bad had pretty much disappeared with the week-end rains. Of course, there was that strange fluttering and bumping in the chimney yesterday, as if some birds had gotten in there to make a nest (Heaven forbid!) maybe I'm allergic to birds.
About that time, Howard said, "This Bible sure smells like cigarettes1" What? Which Bible was he reading, I wondered. He said he got it at a garage sale. No matter how many Bibles he has, he can't pass one up at estate or garage sales. When I lose track of him in a house that's hosting a sale, I can always find him poring over books shelved in the den or living room of the home. And he usually finds one that he just has to have.
"How long has it smelled like that?" I asked, noticing the yellowed pages. "Ever since I bought it," was his nonchalant reply. Since I don't have much of a sense of smell, a lot gets past me. No wonder I was sneezing. Probably allergic to cigarette smoke and smells. Allergic to the Bible! Wouldn't that be something!
Yet, when you think about it, that's the way a lot of folks react toward Bibles today. They lie ignored and unopened until they have to be picked up on Sunday, if then. Of course the Bible can make one uncomfortable and even irritated with the unvarnished truth it presents as it convicts of sin. Like an allergy, cough, or a bad dream, it can keep you lying awake nights if things are not right between you and the Lord.
In Daniel, chapter 2, the Bible tells of King Nebuchadnezzar's troubling dream that kept him awake at night. He demanded that his soothsayers tell him the meaning of the dream, even though he didn't remember what the dream was. Only Daniel could reveal and interpret the dream, thus saving the king's wise men from death. The dream contained some dire news for Nebuchadnezzar, which came to pass, but in the end the king acknowledged God.
Later, when a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar inherited the throne, he displeased God so that, at a banquet he had thrown for thousands, while they worshipped false gods and drank wine from stolen sacred vessels, the fingers if a man's hand appeared on the wall with strange words that only Daniel could interpret. The king's knees knocked at the sight, and Daniel's words from God came true. The king was killed that very night. It doesn't pay to be unrepentant toward God, his warnings of punishment in the Bible are so real you can almost smell the smoke.
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