"The anvil wears the hammer out, you know."

This week, I began my work in an online class called Old Testament Survey, and I have already been challenged to think through a lot of the fundamental beliefs of Biblical Christianity. Last night, I was pushed to think through the depth of the foundation that Genesis builds for the rest of the Bible, and today I read an article by Lehman Strauss, entitled "We Can Trust the Bible," which defends the inspiration and inerrancy of the Word of God. At the end of the article, under the section entitled, "The Wiles of Satan," Strauss writes that despite the methods of Satan and man to destroy God's Word. . . .

". . .The Bible stands, this impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture. Men fling themselves against it in all their fury, but instead of them breaking the Book, the Book crushes them. Bibles have been burned and torn to pieces, but God's Holy Word remains triumphant. In our world of darkness and despair the Bible shines forth as the scintillating light to lead men aright. The Bible is the only light for man's pathway (Psalm 119:105); the one Light shining in a dark place (II Peter 1:19). The Bible is the greatest luminary on the earth to bring men to God. It is the one beacon of hope in the night of men's sin. However dark the shadows of sin and sorrow might become, the Light will al­ways be there for those who will follow. . . .

"Last eve I paused beside the blacksmith's door
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chimes;
Then looking in, I saw upon the floor
Old hammers worn with beating years of time.
'How many anvils have you had,' said I,
'To wear and batter all these hammers so?'

'Just one,’ said he, and then with twinkling eye,
'The anvil wears the hammer out, you know.'
And so I thought, the anvil of God's Word For ages skeptics' brows have beat upon, Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard, The anvil is unharmed, the hammers gone."

GE (College Freshman)