In his autobiography Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis brings up a very fascinating analogy that has always stayed with me. Us trying to meet God is like Hamlet trying to meet Shakespeare. No matter where Hamlet looks in his world, he will never find Shakespeare (though he will see evidence of Shakespeare’s personality and character all around him). But for Hamlet to know Shakespeare himself, Shakespeare would need to enter the story and reveal himself. And this, Lewis writes, is exactly what God did for us. He entered our human story.
God entered our story in so many ways, primarily by Jesus Christ coming into the world to die for our sins. God literally became flesh (elsewhere, Lewis urges us to imagine turning into an insect in order to start understanding how much power and glory God gave up to do this…). But God also entered our story by revealing Himself through His word—that is, the Bible. The Bible, therefore, is the most unique text that has ever existed and will ever exist. It is the word of the creator Himself.
Let us remind ourselves of this truth whenever we want to spend less time reading the Bible or treat it as a burden (and this is me regularly). Literally nothing else we can read or ever will read even comes close to the truth and power contained in the word of God. Wisdom on how to find God, the roadmap to salvation, the secret to living a joyful life—it’s all there from the creator of the universe Himself, if only we care to read it.
The author of the letter to the Hebrews writes, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4.12–3).