A newspaper article once told how the 83-member crew of the USS Pueblo, who had previously discarded faith as excess baggage, turned to prayer and the Bible to sustain them in their 11-month imprisonment by the North Korean government in 1968. The article said, “A symbol of both their faith and their unity was the ‘Pueblo Bible,’ scraps written out from memory and jotted down on toilet paper or on pieces of paper that had been given the men to write the ‘confessions’ their captors beat them to obtain.”
Isn’t it strange how in the face of difficulties people turn to a book as old as the Bible for help? Of course, truth has no date on it. The multiplication table and the law of gravity are no less true because they are old. The Bible is true, eternal, and able to comfort and strengthen people even today.
Since God’s word is ever true and helpful we ought to do three things with it:
1. We need to take it in. Read it and memorize it. The psalmist said, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11). God’s word in us becomes a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. To take God’s word in demands discipline. We need to set a time and place for daily Bible study and then stick with it.
2. We need to live it out. Put into practice those things you have learned. Christianity is not merely academic. It is practical and should show in our lives. The probing question has been raised: “If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” There certainly would be if we lived out the word of God.
3. We need to pass it on. Teach it to others also. Especially parents should instill the teachings of God’s word in the minds of the young.
In the hour of great need the Bible sustained the crew of the USS Pueblo. It can do the same for you if you will stow it in your heart, show it in your life, and sow it in the world.