Delight in His Word - Your Daily Forward Devotional

Delight in His Word

August 8 

Read Psalm 1:1-2 (ESV)

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.

Reflect

Do you love God’s Word? Is it something you think about often or something you read quickly and move on?

Every January, Christians around the world commit to spending more time reading their Bibles. They know it’s God’s Word. They know it’s important. They know it has the power to transform their entire lives. And yet, despite their best efforts and good intentions, many have stalled out already and we are only 7 days into the new year! Why is that?

Well, there are probably many reasons, but I think one is because we look at reading God’s Word as if it was one more thing on our to-do list. We think of it as a chore! It’s like eating our veggies and working out! We know we should do it, we know it’s good for us, but if we’re honest, we just don’t want to.

But when the psalmist wrote today’s psalm, he said that a blessed or happy person is someone who delights in the law of the Lord. Someone who just can’t get enough of it and thinks about it all the time. That is what so many of us are missing! We forget that we are meant to enjoy Scripture. It is a gift to us from the God of the universe. He wants us to know Him so He gave us His Word!

How do we get from a place of reading the Bible out of obligation to a place of reading it for the sheer joy of fellowship with God? The author of Psalm 119 gave us the key—prayer. In Psalm 119:5, the psalmist asked God to help him be faithful towards His Word: “Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!” We too, can ask God to help us be faithful to keep our commitment to engage with His Word every day and apply it to our lives.

The psalmist also wrote, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law (Psalm 119:18). Sometimes, we just need to ask God to show us how good, beautiful, and truly wonderful His Word is. We need Him to open our eyes in order for us to truly appreciate it.

But the psalmist didn’t just pray that God would help him appreciate His Word, He prayed that God would help him comprehend it. He prayed, “Make me understand the way of your precepts”(Psalm 119:27). So often we get bogged down reading the Bible because we struggle to make sense of it. It’s hard to enjoy something that confuses us. But we can ask God to increase our understanding of His Word every time we open the pages.

Finally, we need to grasp this principle: the more time we spend reading the Bible, the more time we’ll want to spend reading the Bible. In Psalm 34:8, David wrote, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!” In other words, try it! You’ll like it! The more you get to know God through His Word, the more you will want to get to know Him through His Word.

Friends, we have been given an incredible gift from God Himself. Whenever we pick up our Bibles, we hold in our hands a message to us from the God of all creation. The God of the universe wants to show You who He is! But you have to open it up. You have to start reading. And when you do, you’ll come to enjoy your time reading the Bible. You’ll start to delight in His Word. As the prophet Jeremiah wrote, “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” (Jeremiah 15:16).

Pray

Lord, I confess that at times, I look at reading the Bible as another thing on my to-do list instead of understanding that it is a joy and privilege to be able to read the very words of God whenever I want. What a gift You have given us! Help me to delight in Your Word, to understand it, and to obey it. Amen.

~ Pastor Nat Crawford

If you found value in this post, please share your comments, questions, and prayers with us!