Feasting on God’s Word

WORSHIP/DEVOTIONAL ARTICLE | Chadwick Brewer | Williamsburg, Virginia

The word of God is a gut hook. It’s as sharp as a two-edged sword that cuts us to the heart. It’s a brightly lit mirror that brings our repulsive marred souls into sharp relief. It’s a light that shines into our darkness, exposing us for who we really are.

It is wondrously beautiful, deeply insightful, surprisingly simple, and profoundly complex. It makes a wise man look simple and the simple man wise. It is enlightening and more desirable than gold. His word is perfect and altogether righteous.

The word of God is the words of eternal life. There is no other source for such beauty and power. God has granted life to His Son, and the one who hears His word and obeys it will have new life breathed into him by His word. We can be born again to walk in newness of life by the word of God.

Yet for all of its power, all of its majesty, all of its life-changing ability, we find ways to declaw and dilute God’s word all the time, often times unwittingly and unintentionally.

Starvation
David describes God’s word as “sweeter than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10). Jesus, the Word, describes Himself and His teaching as “true food” and “true drink” (John 6:55). He tells His followers that He is the bread of heaven and whoever believes in Him will have rivers of living water flowing out of his heart (John 7:38). Moses in Deuteronomy and Jesus in the “temptation in the wilderness,” teach us that God’s words are more life-giving and sustaining than bread, for “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

How many times have you eaten in the last seven days? If I would hazard a guess, I would say that we have had at least twenty meals, not to count snacks and desserts. We become hangry when we miss meals and our bodies cry out for sustenance if we miss just one or two of our usual meals. Yet, how many times have you feasted on God’s word in the last seven days? Many Christians tout that God’s word is vitally important to their Christian walk and yet barely consume any of it on a weekly basis. Consider all the advantages that we have in our modern times to not only have God’s word in print but in our own language and cheaply available. Not only that, but most people have more access on their phones to Bible translations, reference materials, and other study tools than almost anyone in the world had just one hundred years ago. With these advantages, we are often like the pickiest of anorexics who causally grabs a verse or two to munch on from time to time. We are often unprepared to bring our ideas to contribute to Bible classes. We allow and often encourage the speakers to put all the scriptures on the overhead to save us the energy of turning in our own Bibles.

There are so many who are wasting away from their self-inflicted starvation from God’s word. Have you been a Christian so long that you know so much that you have become full? When was the last time you spent time in Micah? Have you spent time with the Song of Solomon or Leviticus lately? If you don’t see how relevant Ezekiel is to your life, then maybe you haven’t spent enough time there lately.

Proxy Consumption
As a preacher, I am well aware that I have much more time to study than the average person. One of the purposes and great advantages of my job is to use my time to study, prepare, and present material to help the members of the congregation to be built up in God’s word. This system is not intended as an elimination of the need for personal study and consumption of God’s word, but rather it is a help and addition to your personal consumption. Here are a few things I would like to point out.

1. No matter how well, emotionally charged, or motivating a speaker is able to present his message on Sunday, he can never fully convey to you the impact the hours of his personal study had on him. He will always be sharing with you just a percentage of what he gained in the last week or weeks of study.
2. The lesson that you might need this week might not be in the sermon or sermons that are presented. The topics during Bible class may be great and helpful, but they also might not be what is most needed. With God’s word so readily accessible, you can read and study the passages and topics that are most needed for you.
3. Error is most readily accepted and spread when personal knowledge of the truth is lacking. Much that is false and misleading sounds really good, and many good people have been led away by “teachers” who sound good when they are teaching. You can help yourself and those around you by being able to recognize false teaching.

Let the word of God dwell in your hearts. Take your time to allow God’s word to speak to you, your needs, and allow it to have its full impact.

Snack Food
We cannot live long on snack food. It can quickly make us malnourished and anemic from a diet that is lacking in real nutrients. Yet so many Christians try to live a life on spiritual snack food.

While blogs, devotional books, newsletters, and other materials are great for what they are, no conscientious writer ever intends them to be a substitute for God’s word. As accessible, relatable, and easily consumed as they are, they simply will never have the full nutritional value of God’s word. They can be extremely helpful and contain much that is beneficial, but please, always use them in addition to your own personal study of the Bible. Snacks are great in between meals but don’t become malnourished by failing to truly feed on God’s word.

Indigestion
With so many helps available, we often form habits that are non-conductive for digestion. In the scriptures, there is milk and there is meat. There are passages and concepts that are easily grasped and understood. There are other passages that are hard to understand and are often twisted and misused, which can compound the problems of comprehension.

Consequently, when we do take time to feast on some of the goodness of God and we come across a bit of fibrous material or gristle, we are often too quick to run to things like commentaries and other helps. Being meat and not milk, some things are designed to take time to digest. We rob ourselves the blessing of meditating on God’s word as we should when we try to take the easy route.

This is not to say that commentaries are wrong or even unhelpful, but when they become our first approach we miss out on what God intends. Paul tells us, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Dwelling is an occupation of the mind. Moses tells us, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart” (Deuteronomy 6:6) Something that is on your heart is something that is occupying the mind. One of the best ways to occupy the mind is to allow it to wrestle with God’s word, digest it, and then diligently apply it.

In John 6, Jesus said many “hard sayings.” Most of His followers turned back after hearing these hard sayings. The apostles also admitted that they were hard sayings, but Peter had the right idea – “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Peter was willing to chew on it for a while, knowing that Jesus has the words of eternal life.

I would say that we might want to be more OK with not understanding everything immediately. We should be willing to meditate and pray for understanding. This is certainly not a plea to not study with others, or discuss scripture with others, but rather it is a petition to dwell on God’s word. Let it be on your heart. Let it be your meditation all the day.

The great and awesome God of all the universe, infinite in glory and majesty, has deemed it fitting to reveal His mind to you in His inspired word. Dwell on it. Meditate on it. Let it be on your heart and keep it as frontlets before your eyes. Write it on your doorposts and on your gates. Let it be your delight and your salvation.

19.07.02 | GROW magazine