Yes, That’s the Book for Me!

By: Lisa Van Houten

During this month of Advent, we especially celebrate the “Good News of great joy that will be for all the people” – the coming of Immanuel, God with us!

There is also some good news recently reported by The Wall Street Journal: Bible sales increased 22% this year, many of which are first-time buyers.  This far exceeds sales of other books, which were up by less than 1% during that same time period, according to book tracker Circana BookScan.  Google searches for Bible verses are also up 13%.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) attributed the increase in part to worries about the economy, concerns about the election, and foreign conflicts. “They’re looking for hope with the world the way it is, and the Bible is what they’re reaching for,” Bethany Martin, manager of Faith & Life Bookstore in Newton, KS, told WSJ.

Numerous public figures, who influence millions of followers and listeners, are increasingly speaking out about exploring God’s Word and their spiritual journey.  Jordan Peterson, author of the aptly entitled book, We Who Wrestle With God, continues to show appreciation for the Bible, even as he continues to grapple with what it means to be a true believer. Tucker Carlson has been talking a lot in recent months about reading the Bible and what seems to be his own budding faith.  Actor/comedian Tim Allen recently shared that he is reading through the Bible for the first time and said about his dive into Scripture, “So far amazing and not at all what I was expecting.”  Martin Luther said, “God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick” and He can use these flawed individuals to encourage others to also start reading the Bible. While these men may not yet be in the Kingdom, we pray that the seed of God’s Word planted in their lives takes root.

And, as all of those first-time readers of the Bible will find out, God redeems and uses the most unlikely persons.  I pray that one of the redeemed will be Cely Vazquez, who appears on the steamy reality show “Love Island.”  Cely posted on TikTok that she recently bought her first Bible, stating: “I’ve had Bibles that my mom gave me, but I felt I needed my own to start my own journey, that it symbolized I was starting a walk with God.  I felt something was missing. It’s a combination of where we are in the world, general anxiety and the sense that meaning and comfort can be found in the Bible.”

Cely also said: “I go to church every Sunday, I pray every day, I consider myself a religious person. And I have never purchased my own Bible or studied it or read it. And now at 28-years-old I’ve been finding myself having this deeper craving for really understanding what it means to walk with God and I think that definitely starts with reading and studying the Bible, so that’s my next step. And it took me a while to get here, but I’m so happy that I’m here.”

She later added that she was starting by reading the four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – a great place to start!  God’s Word will not return void. The Bible is a light guiding us in this dark world. (Psalm 119:105) It corrects us and trains us in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16) And from Genesis to Revelation, it points us to Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

There are millions like Cely who have a craving that the things of this world can’t satisfy; who know something is missing in their lives and are trying to fill that emptiness – a void which can only be filled by a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Our culture has a mental health crisis, as people search for hope and meaning. Last year, more than 50,000 people committed suicide in the United States, the highest number ever recorded.  In 2023, Gallup reported that depression rates hit new highs.  Yet, a study from Harvard shows that: “People who attended religious services at least once a week were significantly less likely to die from ‘deaths of despair’” – such as by suicide, alcohol, and drug overdose.  Psychiatric Times published a review of hundreds of studies which also show significantly less depression and substance abuse among people of faith. The report admitted: “Until the early 19th century, psychiatry and religion were closely connected. Religious institutions were responsible for the care of the mentally ill. A major change occurred when Charcot and his pupil Freud associated religion with hysteria and neurosis. … Psychiatry has a long tradition of dismissing and attacking religious experience.”

That is still the case today. Sociology of Religion reported that 61% of psychologists state that they are either atheists or agnostics. Harvard magazine also reported that psychologists and biologists were the least likely among faculty to believe in God.  Yet, conversely, Gallup found that 81% of Americans believe in God.   In addition, Harvard Medical School researcher David Rosmarin, an expert on faith and mental health,  reported that nearly 76% of patients wanted spiritually integrated psychotherapy.

However, psychology can’t heal the spiritual void, which is often at the root of depression and despair.

Beloved theologian R.C. Sproul once recounted:  “Several years ago, I had a friend who was a psychiatrist. Very seriously, he came to me on one occasion and asked me to come to work for him. I said, ‘You must be joking. I don’t know the first thing about psychiatry. I’m certainly not qualified or capable to work in your office, dealing with people who are in therapy.’  He says, ‘Oh, but you are.’ I said, ‘Why is that?’ He said, ‘Because the vast majority of the problems that I have to deal with as a psychiatrist are all bound up with guilt—guilt and its consequences, guilt that is paralyzing, guilt that is unresolved. He said, ‘Most of the people I see don’t need a psychiatrist. They need a priest.’” 

In other words, they intrinsically know they are sinners in need of a Savior.  They need the Good News found in all those Bible sold – Jesus paid the penalty we deserve.

But it’s not enough just to buy a Bible; like Augustine, we must “take up and read.”  Whether reading for the first time or the seventy-first, readers will not only find the missing piece in their lives – they’ll find true peace.  For, as Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”   As these first-time readers open God’s Word, pray that the Holy Spirit opens their hearts and minds to the Good News that brings great joy!

Let every heart prepare Him room.

 

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