10/12/2019
How much time do we spend in God’s Word each day? Are we guilty of trivializing the process of study and meditation, neglecting it for the simple process of reading? Although reading God’s Word is important, it is only the beginning, it is the deeper process of mulling it over, and absorbing it that benefits us most.
“I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”
Psalms 119:15-16 ESV
As a young student I was assigned certain books to read, and they were usually entertaining... books like Robin Hood, Moby Dick, and Aesop’s Fables. I found them enjoyable on a superficial level, but it wasn’t until much later when I read them again, and thought about what the author really meant in the metaphors, and other such undercurrents, that I really began to harvest the meat they contained. God’s Word is much like this... and more.
“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”
Proverbs 2:1-5 ESV
How attentive are we to God’s wisdom? How inclined are we to seek out understanding? Is God’s Word a piece of fish to us that we can swallow with the least amount of chewing and effort, or is it like a hard candy that takes hours upon hours of rolling about in our mouths to fully ingest? Is it like a leafy vegetable with few calories, or a cut of beef that contains many?
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation.”
Jeremiah 15:16-17 ESV
I met my wife at a college bonfire, we were in the company of many, and she infatuated me, but it took years of being alone with one another, and facing the challenges and hardships of life together, before I really began to know her... after 43 years I am still learning who she is. Sometimes I have to relearn a lesson regarding something I thought I understood perfectly about her because either she, or I, have changed over time, and have grown in some way. God’s Word is the same, it is by the quiet time we spend with it, the meditation on what it is saying, and our understanding of its impact on our lives, and selves, that it is made precious... that we make it a treasure... like gold that only Love can mine, and unearth.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:21 ESV
God’s Holy Word should be more to us than baubles that we store away in a safe place and count. It should be more than simply the repetitive reading in which we hope to find value, and by which we occasionally stumble across something new by accident. If we take our favorite food into our mouths, we don’t gulp it down, but chew it slowly so that we gain the most enjoyment, and benefit from it.
My mother was raised exceptionally poor, and she often told me the story of how, on occasion, her father would take her to town with him. If she was good, he would let her pick out a piece of penny candy. She told me how she would select the hardest piece, and one that she really didn’t like very much so that it would last a long time in her mouth. Scripture is kind of like this... the hardest pieces, and those that are the most difficult to tolerate, stay with us the longest... and are those from which we gain the most.
“Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.”
Psalms 119:66-68 ESV
Reading is the process by which we place God’s nourishment in our mouths. Study is the way we chew it into small pieces, and swallow it, but meditation is the means by which our body breaks it down and makes it a part of itself. Are you stopping before you make God’s Word a part of who you are? Are you infatuated with Him, but have not yet fallen in love? Have you grown, and changed, but not allowed God to speak to you anew?
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Holy Word that thrives in us as we grow in our faith, and become new to us through our knowledge and understanding of you. Help us to be patient in your Word, and to meditate on it day and night. Teach me to study it by day, and lace it intricately into my dreams by night. As I grow in my faith and understanding Father, take my hand and lead me to new revelations in the gospel of Jesus, and the fullness of your Word. Give me courage to overcome the fear I find in your hard lessons, and never allow me to become complacent in my understanding. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who reveals himself to me more each day. Great are you in your height, depth, and breadth, as you take me higher, deeper, and further afield in your Word, and increase my faith as I gain in spiritual stature. Praised be your name for the ever present newness of your character, and love, that changes me, and changes with me. You are mighty Father, and your step is always one stride before mine; your voice constantly calling to me “Come!” All glory is your Lord, and grows in my eyes as I learn more of you; your mercy and grace rising to new summits just beyond my sight. Let all those who seek you live within your Word, and meditate on you forevermore.
“On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.”
Psalms 145:5-6 ESV
Rich Forbes