"Out of the mouths of babes..." I got an e-mail the other day from Joy, my daughter. It was a brief snippet of a conversation she had with my soon-to-be five year old granddaughter, Lauren. Joy had finished telling the biblical account of David bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:12-ff).You know...where David dances before the Lord and his wife gets mad with him for doing so. Or if you don't remember it that way, you surely will remember it in the movie,"Footloose", where Wren, the outspoken high school student (Kevin Bacon's role) stands before the city council pleading for the town to reverse its law prohibiting school dances and makes an emphatic plea by saying King "David danced before the Lord!...He danced!" That Ark story! After telling the story Joy asked the kids what was special about the Ark? Lauren's answers - "to keep the animals out of the crazy heavy rain!"

I had always thought the ark in Genesis not 2 Samuel was to keep them from drowning and had not considered keeping them dry. How about you? Don't tell me you had the same perspective as Lauren. Nope I won't hear it. The point of the story in Genesis is that God saved Noah, his family, and the animals. Keeping them dry was not part of the story. Yes the ark had a roof. Yes, it did indeed (have I every used that word before?) keep them dry, but......

Are you like I, that most of the time once I have established perspective on something or someone, that is the truth and I take no time to consider other perspectives or truths. Many times I think we do that with God's Word. You hear the story of the rich, young ruler (did you know that those three words to describe him come from three separate gospels? Sure nuf. In none of them is he described as all three. Only one word in each gospel) and you have the account and the truth of the story down forever. No need to hear it again. You have it tucked away in you mind with no further thought needed. Or what about John 19 which describes the crucifixion of Jesus. Once you've heard it and read it, you got it.

Hebrews 4:12 says "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart." Living and active. Living and active. If The Word is living and active then shouldn't it give us a different perspective each time we read it? Our circumstances are different from the last time we read a passage. We have matured in our faith (hopefully) since we last read that same passage. And best of all God is working to help us conform to Him and his holiness every moment of the day through the Holy Spirit.

Will you allow God to change your perspective so you can learn another of his marvelous truths? Read the Word and look at it through a child's innocent, wonder-filled eyes, then you too may see that the Ark was to keep the animals out of the rain. Duh.

Richard