Saved through His Word
Eleven years ago, the weight of an unshakable emptiness overwhelmed me, culminating in an emotional collapse. In reality, things progressed slowly, but it seemed my world came crashing around me overnight. One day, I had dreams, enthusiasm, excitement, and ambition, all working together to advance my career and build a life; the next, I woke up with a gnawing restlessness, physically exhausted, and emotionally depleted.
I tried pulling myself up by the bootstraps. I took the long way to work that day. The cold air rushing through the open windows in my burnished red Kia Rio and the sun glinting through the bare dogwood branches should have reinvigorated me. It didn’t. As I observed the majesty of creation on that slow drive through winding roads, I fell deeper into my despondency.
“No matter,” I thought; I still had a job to distract me with tasks and duties. Maybe the comfort of a position would anesthetize the ennui cascading through my being. While sitting through morning updates and wading through countless emails, any semblance of motivation evaded me. I had nothing to give. I asked for help covering and rescheduling the rest of my meetings and emailed my team, letting them know that I would be out the rest of the day.
I didn’t take the backroads on the way home. Instead, I turned up the volume and merged onto the northbound I-49 on-ramp. It felt like the radio stations conspired against me. I flipped through my preset stations, dissatisfied with the lack of angst on the rock station, bored with the predictability of the pop station, and uninterested in NPR’s reporting. I hit the scan button in search of something new. I grooved to some Mexican country music before reluctantly tuning into a radio preacher (a choice I rarely made back then). I landed on Alistair Begg’s Truth for Life program. I listened as this Scotsman discussed Scripture in a meaningful and comprehensible way. Something about the way he explained the Bible stirred something in me. I needed to see it for myself.
Once inside, I grabbed a two-tone brown leather NIV Life Application Study Bible from the bottom shelf of my study and turned to the passage Begg said contained the purpose and means of life. There was so much dust on the Bible—given to me by my uncle when I was 14—that I had to wet a paper towel to clean it.
I read in my sunroom until night fell. I couldn’t believe how engaged I was with the Bible! I had given up on “Christianity” years before that in my junior year of high school. I had read the Bible through to argue and show off. But that day, when my heart committed treason without reason, the Bible came to life.
Fast forward in my journey, I eventually returned to the little Baptist Church I had joined in middle school. Out of curiosity, I wondered if, like my experience with the Bible, I had missed something in my youthful immaturity. Would you believe I found exactly that? I learned how to sustain a spirit-led discovery through God’s Word there. I discovered what had been missing—not just knowledge but a life transformed by God’s Word.
That’s why Bible study matters. It’s not an academic exercise; it’s how God speaks to us. I pray you discover the same joy, depth, and renewal through God’s Word. It all starts with one simple question: What does the Bible say?
If you’re looking to dive deeper, you can download a free PDF workbook to guide you through a five-session study at dsmbc.org/BibleStudy. Let me know if you have any trouble accessing it!
