To What Lengths Would We Go?

The following story reminds me of the perseverance of my father in his later years of life when he was legally blind. He'd still spend hours of his day in the Word, not just reading, but taking notes, too. It wasn't an easy task, and he had to use the aid of a lighted magnifying glass. When he died, not only did I inherit his Bible, but I also have some of those glasses he used to see the Words of God a bit clearer.

Those habits we make today of being regularly in the Word, of really studying It and meditating on It, will often be unbreakable, especially in times of severe crisis. We'll long for the Food that nourishes for eternity, and we'll go to whatever lengths to feast on It. Oh, for more grace to steadfastly be in the Word and treasure such a privilege!

Evangelist Robert L. Sumner, in his book The Wonder of the Word of God, tells of a man in Kansas City who was severely injured in an explosion. His face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands. He had just become a Christian when the accident happened, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible.

Then he heard about a lady in England who read braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in braille.
But he was discouraged that the nerve endings in his lips had been too badly damaged to distinguish the characters. One day, as he brought one of the braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them. Like a flash he thought, "I can read the Bible using my tongue." At the time Robert Sumner wrote his book, the man had read through the entire Bible four times. If he can do that, can you discipline yourself to read the Bible?

~Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life