“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
How is your commitment to daily Bible reading coming? Most of us, I think, start the new year with great intentions of following some plan of daily Scripture reading! Maybe you joined us in meditating through Psalm 119 this past month. That’s great! But what now? For some, the struggles and cares of daily life have pushed that project to the side. You’d like to get back to it. You know you really should. But actually getting there is the struggle. If so, let me encourage you to “take up and read” once more. Don’t let past inconsistencies rob you of the joy waiting to be found as you encounter God in His word! Psalm 1:2, quoted above, reminds us that the “blessed” person – that means the person who knows and walks with God – is someone who “delights” in God’s Word and “mediates” (thinks about) it both day and night. In other words, one of the keys to learning to walk with God day by day as you grow in the strength of His grace is to find yourself regularly listening to His voice speaking through His word.
Having a daily time when you read God’s word and respond to it with prayer has been described as breathing. You take in the oxygen of God’s truth as you read, and then breathe it back out through pray. In this way you take in the life of his presence and truth that you need for spiritual health and growth. It doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it should be kept quite simple. Pick a book, like the Psalms or one of the Gospels or letters of Paul, and determine to read a portion every day, thinking about what you hear, listening to what God says and responding to him with prayer. Don’t make it a law, as if you must do this to get God to love you. But see it instead as a gracious gift whereby you can draw near to Him each day to hear him speak and share with him the burdens of your heart.
There is no greater privilege than time spent with God.
Pastor Scott