The Word of God Describes the Character of God
by Sammy Tippit

A great spiritual awakening took place in Britain in the 18th century. There were numerous Christian leaders during that period of British history. Bishop J.C. Ryle said of those leaders that "in all their preaching they were eminently men of one Book. To that Book, they were content to pin their faith, and by it to stand or fall. This was one grand characteristic of their preaching. They honored, they loved, they reverenced the Bible."

One of those leaders was George Whitefield. He was a man of the Bible. He studied, memorized, loved, and preached the Bible. Thousands came to the open fields to hear Whitefield preach from the Book. At some points in his life, he preached forty to fifty hours each week. And he always preached from that grand old Book. Early in his ministry, he developed an intense love and desire to study the Bible. Arnold Dallimore in his biography of Whitefield describes a scene of a morning in the early life of Mr. Whitefield. He writes, "There he is at five in the morning, in the room above Harris' book store. He is on his knees with his English Bible, his Greek New Testament and Henry's Commentary spread out before him. He reads a portion in the English, gains a fuller insight into it as he studies words and tenses in the Greek and then considers Matthew Henry's explanation of it all. Finally, there comes the unique practice that he has developed that of 'praying over every line and word' of both the English and the Greek till the passage, in its essential message, veritably become part of his own soul."

Whitefield became a mighty man of God during his generation, because he learned intimately and accurately of the character of God described in the Bible. The Scriptures don't merely give us a fleeting acquaintance with God. They introduce us to an intimate knowledge of His great deeds and moral character and of the basic principles by which He governs the universe. Therefore, a true worshiper will be one who loves and delights in the Word of God.

The Psalmist wrote an acrostic that emphasizes the importance of the Word of God in worship. That acrostic, Psalm 119, speaks of seven works of grace that the Word of God will produce in the heart of the one who worships according to its truth: purity of life, revival of the soul, strength and comfort of the afflicted, guidance and protection for the journey of life, joy in the spirit, understanding in our minds, deliverance from the bonds of sin.