Wonderful Truth regarding His Word

I mentioned some wonderful truths "regarding His Word" before. Here is our story of one of the most important such truths.

A few years ago I had an assistant named Sam, whose first language was vietnamese. When he saw how important the Bible was to me, he asked me for one printed in vietnamese. I ordered one over the Internet from the International Bible Society. When I brought it to work, I sat in my car and wondered what verse Sam should have with it as a kind of introduction to it.

I can't really explain what happened next. The skeptic will say it was coincidence - wishful thinking. But this Bible had about 2000 pages and perhaps six places on each page where I might put my finger. How many failed tries would it take to convince the skeptic this was more than chance? God is in control of how He answers and who He answers. More, such answers are only promised to those who honestly seek the source of all Truth and Goodness, and persist in seeking answers from Him - not to the arrogant expecting God to do tricks on request.

If you exercise that hope in His goodness and truth, sometimes God will give you the feeling that an answer is waiting. It may be an unmistakable hint or only a feeling - but I've never known such an answer to be a call-the-reporters, bolt-of-lightning, or audible-voice miracle. Usually it is only a small private humble miracle meant only for the one who humbly hopes in Him and His promises.

In the car that day He gave me the feeling I should expect an answer. So I put my finger inside that vietnamese Bible where I could not read a single word. When my finger felt like the right spot, I opened it up and tried to figure out where that was.

My finger was on chapter 4 verse 13 of a book near the end of the original Scriptures (Old Testament). The name of the book began with an "A" and was only four characters long. By looking in the table of contents, I was able to find the verse to give Sam, who as a Buddhist had never really looked at a Bible before. It was ...

He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals His thoughts to man,
He who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth—
the LORD God Almighty is His name.
Amos 4:13 (NIV)