Blessed

Ten.

Count 'em.  I have TEN Bibles in FIVE different translations.  (Okay, one is not included in the picture, but that's besides the point.)

As I continue to slowly unpack, I took them out of a box today (most of them anyway, a couple were already out) and was starting to place them on one of my shelves when that fact struck me.  How insanely blessed am I?

Many people don't even own one copy.  Many people only have pieces.  Some people only have one to share among the group.  Many people don't have a single translation in their native language and must therefore read it in a different language or not read it at all.  Some people only have one translation that was made from a language other than the original Hebrew and Greek.  Some people have been killed for owning a copy.  Many people aren't literate and couldn't read one even if they had it.

And yet here I am.  Ten copies.  All but one contain all 66 biblical books in their entirety.  Five different translations in my native language.  All displayed openly in plain view.  I even have the linguistic skill required to pick one up and read it.  Even if I didn't, I still have an audio copy of the New Testament.  Plus, I have access to any part of Scripture in many other translations, written and audio, at my fingertips on my computer and tablet.

How insanely blessed am I?

And yet, there are times when I will go days or even weeks without ever taking advantage of it.  I have access to the written Word of God in its entirety in my own language whenever I want!  Yet, honestly, there are times when I never pick one up between Sunday mornings.  The entirety of Psalm 119 speaks of how the writer revers, trusts in, and longs for God's Word; and he didn't even have the full canon and what he did have was hand-written and very valuable.  Yet, for me who has always had easy access, it's just another one of those things that I take for granted.

How insanely blessed am I?  And how little I often realize it.