If the Bible were just a collection of writings by various authors giving their opinions about life, then you’d be right; it wouldn’t be different from any other book. Nor would there be any reason to believe what it or any other book says. I couldn’t help but recall what the writer of Ecclesiastes said: “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body” (Ecclesiastes 12:12).

But the Bible isn’t like this! Behind the authors of the Bible’s various books was another author — God. This is why Christians often refer to the Bible as “God’s Word” or “The Holy Bible.”

Therefore, whenever we read the Bible humbly and with an open heart and mind, we hear not only the voices of its human authors, but we hear the voice of God. As the Bible says about itself, it “never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

Why has God given us the Bible? One reason is so we can come to know Him — who He is, what He is like, and how He wants us to live. Most of all, God gave the Bible to us to point us to Jesus Christ, who gave His life for our salvation. Ask God to speak to you the next time you open your Bible — and then may you open your life to Jesus Christ.