The universal goal of men and women is happiness . . . "Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart." - Psalm 119:1-2 . . . but how many know how to get there? How can a person find blessedness or happiness? "What is commended to us at the start of Psalm 119," says James Montgomery Boice, "is getting to know and live by the whole of God's revelation, which is what we call the Bible." Living by the Book opens dimensions of what it means to learn from, love, trust, and obey God's words. Psalm 119, Scipture's longest chapter, is a series of brief thoughts about living by the Bible in a day when it is neglectec--studying it, memorizing it, meditating on it, using it. Within those brief sections of Hebrew poetry, Boice isolates components of blessed living. The Bible, he says: • enables the faithful to survive the trials unique to believers--alienation, slander, and sorrow. • is "God's school"--engaging the mind as well as the heart. • is the only place to find God's love and comfort, and God himself. • reveals the meaning and purpose of suffering. • is eternal, and therefore we can build on it not only now but for eternity. • assures us of God's mercy. • guides is in prayer and into obedience and blessedness. But we cannot live by the Bible unless we know it. Living by the Book focuses on making Scripture a central source of life.
