By For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. -Romans 15:4 ESV
Instruction books are easy to come by these days. If I am out on a service call and can not figure out how to do a simple thing like program a thermostat, all I have to do is just look up the pdf on my phone and read the instructions. There has never been an instruction book quite like the Bible. It is a book that spans the entirety of history up until around 120 AD. It is a book that was added to for 1500 years until the canon was complete and God closed it. Every last word of it is there for our instruction. And this instruction is not intended to just fill our heads with facts. It is intended to give us encouragement and endurance so that we might have hope.
When was the last time you finished reading your Bible and was filled with encouragement to endure? When was the last time you prayed that God would fulfill this very desire of his in your life?
Here’s a verse that is intended to do the very thing we are talking about.
Psalms 56:3–4 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Leading Family Devotions 