Draw Near – 365 Guides to Greater Intimacy with GodSample

WHERE TO FIND IT Probably every Bible reader has had the frustrating experience of remembering a phrase from Scripture without recalling where it is found. This can haunt us and only a good concordance can help. Often we do not appreciate how fortunate we are in having so many Bible aids. For example, consider what a terrible time you would have if the Bible were not divided into chapters and verses. Readers did have that problem for fifteen hundred years; when God moved men to write the Scripture, they did not put it down in chapters and verses. Not until the thirteenth century A. D. did two men, Spanish Cardinal Hugo and British Archbishop Langton, divide the Old Testament into chapters. Some years earlier, Masorete monks had broken the Old Testament text into verses. The division of the New Testament into chapters and verses occurred two hundred years later when Robert Stephens introduced them into his Greek and Latin translations. The whole Bible first appeared in 1557. What a blessing this time-consuming work has been to all who love to read and memorize the Bible. The psalmist notes a benefit of the Bible we often overlook. Most of us think only in terms of immediate value when reading God's Word. However, the psalmist says His Word can be stored in our hearts to help us during times of temptation and trial. During these hours, God's Holy Spirit brings Scripture verses to our memory just as He did for Jesus in His hour of great temptation. And in our modern day, it is easier for us to find and remember the references because faithful men who loved God and His Word took time to divide it into chapters and verses.