" 'Man cannot live on bread alone; he lives on every word that God utters.' " Matt. 4:4, N.E.B.

We cannot read the Word of God without feeling that the truth that is revealed from God is not to be found anywhere else. The mariner's compass is a very fine instrument for directing the ships at sea. The teachings of the Scriptures constitute God's moral and spiritual compass, giving clear and definite guidance with infallible truthfulness.

Have you ever heard the voice of God? Has He ever spoken to you personally? If God spoke to you, how would you recognize Him? How would you know whether it was His voice or the voice of the devil, whether it was true or false? We surely need to hear the voice of God and the voice of truth.

God has given us a capacity for hearing His voice and for recognizing it. To arrest our attention, God's voice must be recognized. There is great peril in not being able to identify a voice or a sound that purports to he from God. We are to live by "every word that God utters," said Christ. That voice is simple, clear, understandable. This requires that we listen carefully, understandingly. Our minds must be fully alert. In the Bible we notice that when God speaks there is an articulate communication and also a warm intelligent reception from those who accept that word as from God. God came to Abraham and spoke His intention to bring judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham understood clearly what God meant. He became greatly aroused and concerned for the people who lived there.

Christ always spoke the truth clearly and intelligently. He was a convincing and inspiring teacher of truth. He confronted His hearers with the responsibility to listen and to understand, and then to obey His voice. The voice of God and the Word of God are always in complete harmony.

A superior, sublime quality of communication from God to man is contained in the Scriptures that is altogether lacking in all other claims to encounter with God. This quality is none other than the very voice of God. This Word from God gives the Bible a loftiness that distinguishes it from all the words of men.