Imagine if we read God’s Word and meditated on it the way we watched Les Misérables or listened to Vivaldi or smelled a bouquet of roses. What if God’s Word resonated in our hearts and gripped us with a wild hope that kept us turning pages or mulling phrases into the wee hours of the night—the way we’ve read love letters or memorized compilations of encouraging notes from those we love when we most needed them? Perhaps sometimes we do.
The good news is that love for God’s Word can be cultivated the same way any other sense can be tuned. We do it through disciplined practice, through intentional time set aside for meditation, and through a willing heart that believes God’s promises that His Word will whet our hearts and will never return to Him void (Isaiah 55:1). Our experience of God’s Word can grow richer and deeper.
The longest chapter in the Bible is also one of its greatest love songs. Psalm 119 was originally written as an acrostic to teach Hebrew children their alphabet. Each section starts with a different Hebrew letter. The poem tells of the author’s love for God and His Word. For the author of Psalm 119, at least, study of God’s Word resulted in greater adoration of God. The chapter has twenty-two sections—one for each Hebrew letter. Choose one section to read today. Read it three or four times and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through it. Then set aside fifteen minutes to clear your mind and mull over the text. What does this passage tell you about God? What does it tell you about people? Ask the Lord to show you something from the passage that you can put into practice today.
You don’t need a degree or special skills or a commentary to study scripture. All you need is to set aside time and a willing and open heart to read and listen to God. Sometimes I want to make studying scripture more difficult than it needs to be and rarely take the time to dwell on it after I have read it outside of commentaries.
Meditation is pondering for a period time focusing on the words and meaning.
How important and awesome it is putting GODS WORD FIRST upon wakening and turning all sounds off focusing totally on HIS AWESOME WORD..
I need to spend more time and will in HIS WORD AND LISTENING FOR HIM ON WHAT HE WANTS ME TO HEAR..
Yes that it doesn’t take hours to do so, you don’t need it to be perfect you just need to be intentional