Voted Most Likely To Survive

Psalm 119:81-96

81I faint with longing for your salvation;

but I have put my hope in your word.

82My eyes are straining to see your promises come true.

When will you comfort me?

83I am shriveled like a wineskin in the smoke, exhausted with waiting.

But I cling to your principles and obey them.

84How long must I wait?

When will you punish those who persecute me?

85These arrogant people who hate your law

have dug deep pits for me to fall into.

86All your commands are trustworthy.

Protect me from those who hunt me down without cause.

87They almost finished me off,

but I refused to abandon your commandments.

88In your unfailing love, spare my life;

then I can continue to obey your decrees.

89Forever, O LORD,

your word stands firm in heaven.

90Your faithfulness extends to every generation,

as enduring as the earth you created.

91Your laws remain true today,

for everything serves your plans.

92If your law hadn’t sustained me with joy,

I would have died in my misery.

93I will never forget your commandments,

for you have used them to restore my joy and health.

94I am yours; save me!

For I have applied myself to obey your commandments.

95Though the wicked hide along the way to kill me,

I will quietly keep my mind on your laws.

96Even perfection has its limits,

but your commands have no limit.

At the 1939 World’s Fair on Long Island, New York, a torpedo-shaped time capsule was placed underground, to be exhumed five thousand years later. Among the many objects in the capsule were two books. One was a book explaining the capsule and what it included; the other was a Bible.

Why a Bible? An official explained, “The Holy Bible, of all books familiar to us today, will most likely survive through the ages. . . . It will be a sort of connecting link between the past, present, and future.”

That’s what verses 89 and 90 say when they use words like forever, to every generation, and as enduring as the earth.

The Bible has been burned and banned. Its demise has been predicted by every generation, but it lives on. You can go to the Amazon jungle or to Wall Street and find it being read and studied. You can find professional athletes as well as senior citizens in nursing homes looking for guidance in its pages. No wonder the World’s Fair executive chose it as “the book most likely to survive.”

Almighty Lord, the sun shall fail, and moon forget her nightly tale,

But fixed for everlasting years, unmoved amid the wreck of spheres,

Your Word shall shine in cloudless day

When heaven and earth shall pass away.

ROBERT GRANT

Notable Quotable

“The shadow of the sun and moon in the water seems to shake as much as the water it shines upon. Yet for all this seeming shaking here below, the sun and moon go on in a steadfast course in heaven. So the psalmist tells us that, however our hearts stagger at a promise through unbelief, and our unbelief makes us think that the promise is shaken, God’s Word stands firm, though not in our hearts, but in heaven.”

ANTHONY TUCKNEY