When the Philistines controlled the country, they would not allow the men of Israel to have swords. So to sharpen their plows and other implements of farming, the Israelites had to go to the Philistines.

It is always the way of the enemy to take away your Sword. “You can still farm. You can still do your work. I’ll give you tools,” Satan says. “I’ll help you financially or educationally. I’ll give you the instruments you need to succeed. But I don’t want you to have the Sword.” Self-help and advice books fill the shelves of many who won’t open the Sword of the Word because Satan has tricked them into thinking they don’t need it. I suggest, however, that the sixty-six book library you hold in your hand contains enough material to keep you busy studying for the rest of your life.

I truly thought that by this point in my life I would have a much better handle on this Book than I do. I know the Word not nearly like I ought to, not nearly like I want to. I don’t have Zephaniah down like I ought to. I don’t have passages in Romans memorized like I wanted to. I’m still sketchy on the flow of certain sections of Revelation. Time is running out. My memory is fading and I need to give myself to the Sword. I am more and more convinced that everything I need to know is in this Book - about parenting and grandparenting, about finances and family, about faith and the future. It’s all right here. Satan will try to give us other tools - but it is the Sword that we need.