Scribbles On The Back Page.

I use colour highlighters in my bible. I write notes on the side margins and on the front and back flyleafs. It got so involved that I invented my own colour scheme so that I would find it easy to remember what it all meant. Red for verses relating to salvation, blue for verses relating to heaven. Gold for God’s promises, etc. And so it went on with the various colours, yellow, green, purple, etc.

It got so bad that my little bible started to become cluttered up and tear apart at the seams. Note:- “If you see a bible that’s “worn out” you know it belongs to someone who is not”.

After many years I decided to buy a new bible. But this time I was looking for one with larger margins and plenty of writing spaces around the pages. I went into the little bible shop and asked if I could see some bibles with large margins. The shop assiatant found some and showed me one in particular. My eye fell on it right away and I decided that it was the one that I wanted. Large margins on both sides and also top and bottom of the pages. I nicknamed them my “margins for error”.

The shop assistant spotted it too. “Let me put that back and look through more bibles for you” he said. But my mind was made up. This was the one for me. I always wondered if the shop assistant had also decided if that was the one for him, too. But he wasn’t getting it back. My mind was made up.

And so I started the long, tedious and labourious task of copying all the colours from my old bible into the new one.

But something strange happened as I was leafing through some of the pages in the old bible. I started to read some of the little notes there and I didn’t remember writing them in the first place. Well obviously I had written them down at some point but I had no memory of why I had done so.

And when I went to the back pages and read through the list of thoughts I had noted I began to be reminded of some of the scenarios that I had previosly been through in my christian life. Old conversations started to come back to memory. Old trips and outings with old friends that I had long since forgotten about.

It was a wonderful little nostalgic time to be read through these again. And I began to remember some of the old church services and ministries that I had sat and listened to. And some of the old hymns that we sang. And I realised that God’s hand and God’s presence was still with me through this time.

As time goes on it’s very easy for us to forget that God still loves us and His guiding hand is still with us. Even in the time when we couldn’t see Him, or we were caught up with the “busyness” of life, work, family and careers. He was still there.

After Jesus’ ressurrection, and during his subsequent appearances to His disciples and friends during the Days of the Ascension, a lot of people were starting to realise and understand just what Jesus was talking about. They started to remember things that He had spoken about when he was with them in previous times.

Consider the two people who were walking along the road to Emmeus when Jesus came alongside them and walked with them. It is recorded in Luke 24. He then went to their home and had a meal with them. It was at some point during this time as Jesus talked about Moses and all the Prophets and all the things concerning Himself that they realised that He indeed was the risen Messiah.

Luke Ch24 (27)And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. ……. (30)Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.(31)Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.(32)And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"

Did you catch that little phrase in the text?...... "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"

Well, that’s what I started to feel when I started reading through these old notes, scribbles and cross references. I remembered the old church services, bible courses and seminars, the old conversations

The scribbles remind me of good times and good friends. Good chats and good experiences. Then my mind drifts and I am reminded also of dark days and lonely, difficult times. But these little scribbles come back to remind me that God is still in my life. I am reminded, by these old scribbles, that God has always been there for me. Even when I didn’t acknowledge Him.

The scribbles and notes on the back pages of a study bible tell us more about a Christian’s life than all the books of the Bible. It tells of a person who has taken the time to listen to God’s word and remember something relevant or important. It means that the Bible has become a living word to them and they study it more and more.

Always pay attention to them. And always take the time to listen to a christian who is not afraid to write on their bible for study. For sometimes, just sometimes, this can be seen as the measure of how God has been working in them. And this same God can work in you too. Keep reading. Keep studying. Keep praying.

Create in me a clean heart, oh God
And renew a right spirit within me
Create in me a clean heart, oh God
And renew a right spirit within me
Cast me not away from Thy presence, oh Lord
And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation
And renew a right spirit within me

Psalm 51:10-13(Paraphrased for music)

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