Articles
Which Book?
In researching available college scholarships when she was a high school senior, our daughter Susan found one with this requirement: “Write a message of 500 words maximum that answers the question, ‘What book should our political leaders read, and why?’”
It would be interesting to know what books were nominated. So many notable books are worth reading—biographies of great leaders, as well as works on history, war, economics, ethics, etc.
But there is one book that contains all the above and so much more!
Speaking of the future king of Israel, God said through Moses, “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law . . . . And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom . . .” (Deut. 17:18-20).
The desired result of keeping the Scriptures “with him” and reading them “all the days of his life” should be a healthy fear of God, obedience to His word, thus avoiding the pride that so often accompanies positions of power.
What if every president, every member of congress, every governor, and every judge were avid students of Scripture? Many of our nation’s Founding Fathers were.
One would hope that the scholarship judges were not biased against the Bible as a must-read for political leaders—and that no Christian student would nominate any other book.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
