As I was preparing this message I began to think of that old great Hymn

( Still away to Jesus) this was a hymn that are Negro slaves used to sing in the cotton field before preparing to run, it was a way of communicating to God and to one another so that the slave master wouldn’t catch on! This brought them comfort and hope!

I believe that the comfort came from the fact that the words they were singing “ was precious to them”

This caused me to wonder about us today! “IS THE WORD OF GOD STILL PRECIOUS TO THE CHRISTIAN?”

Your probably thinking “what a dumb Question” so before you answer it, make the question personal and say
 “Is THE WORD OF GOD PRECIOUS TO ME?”

And if you can answer all the points in this message with in the affirmative “YES” than maybe you can say it’s a dumb question!

The story that is told in the book of first Samuel, about a women who had a child named Samuel, what is interesting in the story is the relationship it shows that the women (Hannah) had with the word of God, and the faith she had in it, the Bible says " in those days there was no open vision", “what that means is there was a shortage of the revelation of God” but she knew from past experience with the man of God that her petitions could be answered and that she could always depend on God to give an answer!

Hannah was barren and was in great distress over the matter , she was despised by her husbands other wife , who already had a child. In those days it was almost unthinkable for a women not to have children , “especially a man child”, this was just one of her worries,

She also had to deal with the fact that her husband Loved her more than the other wife, so she also had to deal with envy! ( Hannah) wanted to have a child so bad that at times she couldn’t even eat or drink, “ ALL SHE KNEW TO DO WAS PRAY”    "and that she did!"

Her husband had to beg her to eat, and finally she did , “ but she never stopped praying and communing with God! The priest Eli saw her praying and asked what was the matter?

And she told him that she was sad because she wanted a child, she even told him if God were to give him a child that she would give him back to the Lord! Eli told the women to go in peace, and the Lord would be with her, later on her prayers were answered and she gave birth to a baby boy named Samuel , keeping her promise she gave the child back to the Lord to live all the days of his life.
 
It was during the time that the family went up to pay homage to God, and they would go to the temple to sacrifice and give, it was also a time were people lacked trust in the things of the church ( temple) this was because people had lost respect for the Word of God, the Man of God, and the things of God, because the way that the sons of the priest had neglected and served the temple!

( something that is still happening in some of are Churches today!)

“ people losing respect for the things of God because of weak pastors and leadership”!

The women said to her husband “it’s time for the child to be weaned so I will lay back until I do so than I’ll come and offer him unto the Lord!

If the word of God was so important in those days, Is it still important to us today, to the Christian?

For years the word of God has ministered to millions of people around the globe, and is still ministering to people today, and yet the word of God is attacked more than any other thing in the world, and that’s why I ask the Question “ Is the word of God still precious to the Christian?

You will be surprised how many Christians don’t read the word of God for themselves

I believe that Hannah was a student of the word of God, and understood that in times of trouble she could go to the word and trust that the word would get her through!

She didn’t wait until she was dying, she didn’t wait till the year was ended , she went to the word of God during her distress! ( how about us?)

I believe that Hannah was intimate with Gods word “ Meaning she had a personal relationship with the author!
 She could go to the author and tell him private personal things that only he would understand.

Solomon was another person who had that type of relationship with the author , and he brought that out in the most beautiful way ever expressed!( Song of Solomon 2:1-7) I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the vallys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house , and his banner over me was love. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, o ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field , that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

Solomon was able to become intimate with the word , as he describes the relationship as a wife to a husband “ the kind of relationship that only is appropriate to a husband and wife!

In order for a relationship to get to this magnitude there had to be a time of courtship! there had to be a time of getting to know the person, and as we know that Solomon got to know God following in the steeps of his father David, “ with the exception that he burnt incense in high places” nevertheless God ask him what would he ask him for?” and of course he asked for wisdom to judge and rule his people” ( 1 kings 3:9) Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

The only way for you and I to know how to go about life is through  and by instruction , and in order to gain that type of instruction there must be an intimate relationship or a courtship must take place, we have a saying my wife and I ( No bible no breakfast)

In conversation with a lot of Christians I find a lot of them saying ( when asked) how was your devotion today? Many of them will say all they did was pray, my response to that is always the same and I don’t think it will ever change,
 “ I say you did all the talking!” most of those I say that to want to know what I mean and I simple tell them if you don’t make time for the instruction from God than normally you go without instruction, and you tend to do whatever come natural to you! “ Remember”

You and I must read the word in order to gain understanding about the things we face in life, Hannah knew were to go and get understanding , Solomon knew were to go get understanding, and you and I must know were to get understanding!

Sometime you may have to call your pastor up, “ but how will you know to go to the Pastor unless you get your instruction from the word of God first?