Daily, We Are to Eat the Holy Word of God
The LORD’S prophet recorded: “Your words were found and I ate them, . . .” (The Book of Jeremiah 15: 16a NASB)
Maple has moved into our home, and when she came, she brought her food, her toys, and her long, soft hair. Yes, that’s right. She is quite gorgeous, both in her actions and appearance. She is loyal, faithfully loving, striving to always sneak and give you “Maple kisses.” She is the sweetest creature, with her round, brown eyes, calm disposition, and loving behavior. Every single day (and often more than once a day), it’s important to conduct a clean sweep, to swifter the floors, carrying away all the long hairs Maple left behind everywhere she has been. We love Maple (hair and all).
Maybe you have just read the preceding paragraph, scratched your head, and questioned: How in the world can a family pet have anything to do with the study of God’s Holy Word. They are connected, really, and the daily, clean sweep of the floors, cleaning up her left-behind hair resonates with the daily, clean sweeping God’s children must conduct, searching for any idols, for any wayward thoughts, and for any worldliness that may have crept into our hearts from this world.
As a believer in God, as one who has accepted the work Jesus finished on the cross, who believes God raised His Son back to new life, and one who confesses his sins daily (repenting of transgressions against God), then there are specific tenets, these foundational standards, that forevermore remain true.
- Believers have been called by God who brought us out of darkness into His Light.
- Followers are called by God to patiently wait for His Son to return in the LORD’S perfect timing.
- Christians are NOT to negate the truth found within God’s Word.
As citizens of heaven, believers in Jesus are here (on earth) but are NOT OF THIS WORLD. They are not to become trapped by teachings of this world, for every single question of life has a definitive answer: CHRIST JESUS!
The apostle Peter was led by the Holy Spirit to write:
“For we [the disciples of Jesus] did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
(The 2nd Letter of Peter 1: 16-21 NASB)
For when He received honor and glory from God the Father,
such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory,
“This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”—
[recorded in The Gospel According to Matthew 17]
and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven
when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.
But know this first of all,
that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will,
but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
- Jesus came NOT to abolish the Law of the Prophets but to fulfill the Law.
- Jesus is the Word of God made flesh; the Bible tells us so.
- The world has attempted for centuries, millenniums even, to distort, abort, destroy, and lesson the Scripture, but the world continues to fail. God’s Holy Word remains!
- Believers in Jesus are to hide the Word of God in their hearts, meditating on it day and night.
- Christians are to savor the Bible, feasting, in fact, on its teachings, for this is what it says to do.
“Your words were found and I ate them,
(The Book of Jeremiah 15: 16a NASB)
And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; . . .”
Take in God’s Word—all of it—so that it may nourish the soul. Do believers faithfully study the Bible, in order to “grow up” in the Lord & to “show oneself approved”? Are Christians internalizing the teachings of His Holy Word?
As mentioned earlier, we love our family dog, Maple, (hair and all). However, I wonder: Do Christians love God’s Word more (than any other thing)? Do we love the Bible’s teachings (even the ones that reveal our sin)? Do we daily, clean, sweeping the rooms of our soul, cleaning up the left-behind residue from actions, words, and thoughts that came yesterday? Do we even sweep underneath the beds, internally searching for any idols, for any wayward thoughts, and for any worldliness that may have crept into our hearts from this dark, sinful world?
- Are we daily taking the Word into our hearts?
- Does the Word of God fill us with joy?
- When we read the Bible, do we discover already read passages in an amazing and fresh new way, Scripture that God’s Holy Spirit suddenly brings alive?
This is the work of the Holy Spirit at work in God’s children, and God’s prophet Jeremiah reminds us what we must BE ALL ABOUT—IF WE ARE TO BE COUNTED WITH CHRIST.
“Your words were found and I ate them,
(The Book of Jeremiah 15: 16 NASB)
And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Your name,
O LORD God of hosts.”