I love the song Spurgeon by the Christian rapper Shai Linne.  It's about the English preacher C H Spurgeon and tells of how Spurgeon began preaching at fifteen and was called to pastor at seventeen, then another church, the biggest Baptist church in London at the time, called him at nineteen.  How could such a young man be used so mightily of God? Well undoubtedly Spurgeon was extraordinarily gifted but Shai Linne gives us another reason for his usefulness and productivity:

 “If you would have scratched him, he would bleed Bible. A rich prayer life was his means of survival.”

Spurgeon himself said this of his hero John Bunyan “prick Bunyan anywhere and he will bleed Bible.” What does it mean to bleed Bible? I think it is to be so immersed in Scripture that it pours out of you in every part of your life.  In conversation it is on the tip of your tongue to give a word in season, in times of joy it is there to express thankfulness, in sorrow to comfort, in anxiety to reassure, in temptation to strengthen, in times of pride to humble and in every other moment in our lives, to give us what we need for ourselves and to help us help others. 

But this will not come naturally, we don’t automatically think the Bible, it comes with reading, memorising and mediating the Word every day.

If I am scratched what do I bleed? Movies? The internet? Football? As John Piper says: “You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.”

If we are to be useful for God we must be full of His wisdom and counsel, as the Psalmist puts it:  “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD and on His law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2

If you’re scratched, what do you bleed?