STUDY GOD’S WORD
But his (her) delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he (she) meditates day and night.
When it comes to food, I have an acquired taste for lettuce. For the first half of my life I made sandwiches without it, and always ordered soup instead of salad. As an adult, I started adding one small leaf of lettuce to my BLTs to keep it true to its name and over time I began eating lettuce salads, first because I had to (it was good for me!) and now because I want to (I’ve acquired the taste!)
In his book, Spiritual Rhythm – Being with Jesus Every Season of Your Soul, Mark Buchanan writes that studying and feasting on God’s Word is mostly an acquired taste. He says, “Few people leap from the womb with an instinctual hunger for the Word – or they do, but the hunger gets damped by long years of gorging ourselves on everything and anything but the Word: trashy books and inane television shows and gory movies and rounds of gossip and the endless swapping of opinions.”
To acquire the taste for God’s Word requires delight and meditation. Psalm 1:1-2 says, Blessed is the man (woman) who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the set of mockers. But his (her) delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he (she) meditates day and night.
Like so many things that are good and necessary, it begins with a choice.
1. Choose to value God’s Word. If the amount of time you read your Bible were clocked, would it be measured as your most treasured possession? In Psalm 119 the writer unabashedly declares his love for God’s Word! Oh, how I love your law! (v 97a). It is sweeter than honey (v 103) and I love it more than gold, more than pure gold (v 127).
2. Choose to delight in God’s Word. What’s your attitude toward studying God’s Word? Is it dread or delight? Duty or desire? Sitting down to read God’s Word everyday may begin as a duty, but He will move it to delight if you pray for it. It’s your responsibility to get to the table to eat. Ask Him to acquire your taste.
3. Choose to meditate on God’s Word. What’s your course of action to reading God’s Word? Do you meditate on it – thoughtfully deliberating the implication it has for your life and obeying what He reveals to you? Or do you thoughtlessly snack on meager helpings? The more you read God’s Word, the more you won’t want to miss a meal! I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word (Psalm 119:6).
PASSION Step: What do you want your legacy to be when it comes to reading, studying, and memorizing God’s Word? Write it down in one sentence. Begin today.
Psalm 1:2
In his book, Spiritual Rhythm – Being with Jesus Every Season of Your Soul, Mark Buchanan writes that studying and feasting on God’s Word is mostly an acquired taste. He says, “Few people leap from the womb with an instinctual hunger for the Word – or they do, but the hunger gets damped by long years of gorging ourselves on everything and anything but the Word: trashy books and inane television shows and gory movies and rounds of gossip and the endless swapping of opinions.”
To acquire the taste for God’s Word requires delight and meditation. Psalm 1:1-2 says, Blessed is the man (woman) who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the set of mockers. But his (her) delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he (she) meditates day and night.
Like so many things that are good and necessary, it begins with a choice.
1. Choose to value God’s Word. If the amount of time you read your Bible were clocked, would it be measured as your most treasured possession? In Psalm 119 the writer unabashedly declares his love for God’s Word! Oh, how I love your law! (v 97a). It is sweeter than honey (v 103) and I love it more than gold, more than pure gold (v 127).
2. Choose to delight in God’s Word. What’s your attitude toward studying God’s Word? Is it dread or delight? Duty or desire? Sitting down to read God’s Word everyday may begin as a duty, but He will move it to delight if you pray for it. It’s your responsibility to get to the table to eat. Ask Him to acquire your taste.
3. Choose to meditate on God’s Word. What’s your course of action to reading God’s Word? Do you meditate on it – thoughtfully deliberating the implication it has for your life and obeying what He reveals to you? Or do you thoughtlessly snack on meager helpings? The more you read God’s Word, the more you won’t want to miss a meal! I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word (Psalm 119:6).
PASSION Step: What do you want your legacy to be when it comes to reading, studying, and memorizing God’s Word? Write it down in one sentence. Begin today.
He who loves the Word and purity of its precepts cannot turn traitor.
William Gurnall
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