Ray Ortlund, Jr: “God did not give us a comic book.”

Posted on by Pam Larson

Ray Ortlund, Jr, Pastor of  Immanuel Church in Nashville, posted this at his blog, “Christ is Deeper Still”

“The books of Israel’s prophets are among the most difficult in the Old Testament, and probably among the most difficult books ever written.”

Delbert R. Hillers, Covenant: The History of a Biblical Idea, page 124.

God did not give us a comic book. But precisely because the Bible is so challenging, it’s satisfying. God treats us like adults.

There’s something about our culture that leaves us men feeling deeply trivialized: “My capabilities are video games, pornography and goofing off, I will never change, and I see no reason to change.” Then along comes the gospel and tells us that we matter to God. Along comes theological grandeur that lifts our minds into lofty things. Along comes the cause of Christ that gets us working in ways that will still matter a bazillion years from now.

At the center of this revolution is the Bible. It gets us reading and thinking and studying and discussing and going deeper than we’ve ever gone before, deeper than we’ve ever dreamed of going.

Thank God for the Bible. Difficult, but not impossible.

3 thoughts on “Ray Ortlund, Jr: “God did not give us a comic book.””

  1. I just noticed your blog post concerning the Bible. I just wanted to say that I sincerely appreciate this. I’ve had some discussions the past couple of days with a couple of professing atheists; of course somewhat educated, etc. During our ‘dialogue’ I was continually reminded of the scriptures…to ‘go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge’…and to ‘speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words’… the scriptures were entirely applicable for the situation. Anyway, sorry to ramble; I just wanted thank you for proclaiming God’s word.

  2. Steve,
    You are so right! God’s Word is applicable and relevant for any situation. It is wonderful that we can get to KNOW Him through reading and studying His Word!
    Keep reading,
    Blessings!
    Pam

  3. I just noticed your blog post concerning the Bible. I just wanted to say that I sincerely appreciate this. I've had some discussions the past couple of days with a couple of professing atheists; of course somewhat educated, etc. During our 'dialogue' I was continually reminded of the scriptures…to 'go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge'…and to 'speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words'… the scriptures were entirely applicable for the situation. Anyway, sorry to ramble; I just wanted thank you for proclaiming God's word.;. All the best!!

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