able to comfort a friend with a word from the Lord that came
from my regular daily Bible reading. As a mother, I am always
open to ways that God might be using Scripture to get my
attention. For example, on January 1, 1997, after an intense New
Year’s Eve discussion with my college-age son about the
dangers of underage drinking, we were struck by the timing of
the day’s assigned Proverbs reading: “My child, listen when
your father corrects you. Don’t neglect your mother’s
instruction” (Proverbs 1:8 NLT). When my husband, son, and I
woke up that morning—after our intense family meeting—and
read those words, we did not feel it was a coincidence. I
especially felt God giving me a huge vote of confidence that He
was right there with us, backing up and confirming the wise yet
countercultural counsel of modern-day parents. On any given
day, as I listen to God talk to me through the verses of my
regular Bible reading, He gives me courage to be immovable in
my convictions, to do the impossible, and, more important, to
promptly do what He asks me to do then or in the future.
God Talks to Me Through the New Testament
As I continue with my personal pattern of hearing God talk to
me through my daily Bible reading, I turn to the New Testament
book of 2 Peter, chapter 3, verses 1–18. This is a letter written
by the apostle Peter, exhorting first-century believers to
remember what the prophets taught years earlier and what
Jesus confirmed through His teaching while on earth. Within
this section, He reminds them that:
In the last days, scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following
their own desires....