In the film Cast Away, Tom Hanks played the lone survivor of a FedEx jet crash marooned on a deserted island in the south Pacific. A few packages from the jet washed up on the shore with the castaway, and he opened them in hopes of finding something that would help him survive. When he came to the last package, though, he chose to keep it intact. Envisioning the act of delivering that package to its owner was what kept him going. In fact, the film ended with the delivered castaway delivering that package to its recipient five years later.
In a FedEx commercial that spoofed the movie, a once-marooned FedEx employee finally delivered a package he had protected for so long. Curiosity got the best of him and he asked what was in the package he had kept all those years on the deserted island.
She opened it and showed him the contents. “Oh, nothing really,” she said. “Just a satellite phone, GPS locator, a fishing rod, water purifier, and some seeds.”
No doubt those things would have come in handy for a man stranded on a deserted island!
The Bible is also filled with good things. When was the last time you opened it?
In the first six verses of Psalm 19, King David reflected on how the sky above him revealed the reality of God. But that took his thoughts to something that revealed God even better: God’s Word. In verses 7-11, he listed seven compliments of the Bible: perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, firm, and righteous. In addition, he complements the compliments with seven benefits of God’s word: refreshing, making wise, giving joy, giving light, enduring forever, warning and rewarding.
Your Bible is a survival kit for living in a hard world. Open it!
Let’s go deeper into Psalm 19. Join us at 10am this Sunday!
(This week’s devotional was adapted from my devotional guide, Winning Ways. You can pick up a copy for free during this Sunday’s worship service, or order it online here.)
--Tom
Tom Goodman serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.