God speaks to us through the Bible. That book embodies his words. Creation itself is the visible embodiment of his power and wisdom. It is the result of his words. This book of his is, in a different way, the effect of his speaking. It is his written wisdom and power. There is his voice to us. The thunder and tempest are his loud voice of grandeur. The sunshine and the gentle breeze are his still small voice. But deeper, clearer, keener, softer, and still more penetrating than all of these is his written word to us.

The Bible is what it is because it contains the words of God. It is through the word, and in connection with it, that God communicates with us. The word revives: Your word has revived me (Psalm 119:50). The word produces faith: Faith comes from hearing (Romans 10:17). The word strengthens, comforts, heals, nourishes, and revives. It gets into contact with each part of our souls and works its own work there. And it does this because it is divine. No human words could be trusted to work the work in a human soul so unrestrictedly. It is not eloquence, poetry, nor argument, but something more than all these together. It is something peculiar and indescribable, which man could not have formed and which he cannot understand, that makes it so suitable for the soul of a foolish and sinful man.

About the Author
In 1808, Horatius Bonar was born into a family of several generations of ministers of the gospel. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh and was ordained in 1838. As a young pastor at North Parish, Kelso, he preached in villages and farmhouses, proving himself to be a comforter and guide. In 1843, he joined 450 other pastors to form the Free Church of Scotland after the “Disruption.” Horatius Bonar wrote numerous books, tracts, periodicals, and more than 600 hymns. He believed that people needed truth, not opinions; God, not theology; and Christ, not religion. From his first sermon to his last, he ended with “In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.”