E58 - Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions - Results of Chapter Count

Hope’s Harbor

Gritty Bible Devotions

Episode #58

Title: Results of Chapter Count

Date: June 13, t022

Contact: info@hopesharbor.net

Key verse(s): 2 Timothy 3:16 – ‘All Scripture is given by inspiration of GOD…’

Scripture here means: ‘From G1125; a document, that is, holy Writ (or its contents or a statement in it): - scripture.’

Inspiration of GOD means divinely breathed.

Intro: This verse in 2 Timothy 3:16 reveals to us the importance of believing the Bible is GOD’s Word. If we don’t believe this, why bother reading the Bible at all?

Without this belief how can we trust the Bible? It’s not meant to be like a buffet where we pick and choose verses we like and discard others. This makes us judges of GOD. How arrogant is that?

Devotion focus: Each verse of Scripture is placed where it is by Divine placement even though the original manuscripts had no chapter or verse designations.

Okay, the results of the chapter count. I worked smarter not harder. In the Scofield Study Bible, the number of chapters in each book is listed to the side in the index.

I counted the chapters leading up to Psalm 118 and then those after. At first, I thought I miscounted because the chapters before Psalm 118 came to 595 and the chapters after totaled 593. What?

Without confusing myself with these numbers, the point is Psalm 117 is the center chapter, besides being the shortest with only 2 verses.

My conclusion is this is all academic and doesn’t take away from the truth of Psalm 118:8. Although it is discouraging to discover that there was erroneous information given during Bible teaching I listened to years ago.

The thing is I don’t normally take for granted what people are teaching is accurate. And I don’t see this issue with the number of chapters rising to the occasion of a fatal error. Still, I’ve always checked the Bible for the truth, especially when it comes to foundational truths such as those related to salvation. The Bible is for me the final word on all matters of faith and practice.

This verse is from the ESV: John 7:17 – “If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.”

Here Jesus is letting us know if we will apply the Word of GOD to our lives, to the decisions we make, to how we live before others in the way we act and react, we will know whether the Bible is from GOD… or not.

So let’s look at Psalm 118:8 - It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in man.’ once more and how it relates to foundational truths concerning salvation.

It is better to trust in the LORD. Another rendering is ‘It is better to take refuge in the LORD,’ but better than what? ‘Than to put confidence in man,’ or to trust in mankind’s ways of refuge. I think of the New Age movement, but this is talking about the spiritual realm.

Going deeper into this verse the implication is we must see a need to take refuge in GOD. So if we consider our mortal nature, the fact our bodies die, then what about our life after the body dies?

Christians know we need refuge from GOD’s wrath against sin and that refuge is found in Jesus’s death on the cross. He is able to give us refuge because He faced GOD’s wrath for us; he took on the sins of the world, yes, yours and mine, and was raised from the dead after 3 days and nights in the grave.

How do we gain from all this, from Jesus’s death? By placing trust, taking refuge in His atonement, the fact He paid the penalty for sin, and voicing that trust to GOD, asking and receiving forgiveness.

The result of this trust is a new spiritual birth. Why is it this way? Only because GOD chose this way. But keep in mind… this choice cost His Son His life.

Listen to these verses in Romans – There is so much hope and comfort in this message from GOD. We have but to trust the message:

Romans 6:4 – ‘Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:5 – ‘For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

Romans 6:6 – ‘knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Romans 6:7 – ‘For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Romans 6:8 – ‘Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

Romans 6:9 – ‘knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.

Romans 6:10 – ‘For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Romans 6:11 – ‘Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

Summary: Counting chapters doesn’t amount to much if it’s math only. But when we trust GOD and trust His Word to us in the Bible we gain a measure of peace and rest too. This takes faith, the choice to believe the teaching found in the Word of GOD.

Action to consider: Please, go to hopesharbor.net – look up the show notes for E58, page 3 and read through Romans 6:4-11, or better yet, look up these verses from Romans in your Bible and if you don’t already have a habit of reading GOD’s Word to you, begin today.

The Bible is GOD’s chosen method to communicate with us.

Next week’s devotion: I may take a look at the life of Samson -