Getting the Word into Us

I’d like to read to you today the first Psalm.  I am sure some of you know it and perhaps you can even quote it from memory.  But let’s turn to Psalm 1 so we can read it together.  It’s only six verses long so it will not take too long. 

Psalm 1 says this: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither.  Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” 

We all know the Bible is the inspired Word of God, our powerful weapon against the schemes of the enemy. But most people miss that it is also made up of beautiful literature.  It makes sense, that the author of creation – which includes languages – would inspire something so beautiful.  Look at the imagery in this short Psalm.  He says that the righteous “are like trees planted by streams of water,” who “yield its fruit in season” and “whose leaves do not wither.” How does he paint the wicked? “like chaff that the wind blows.”  In other words, frail, insignificant, with no root or foundation to hold them during a storm. The Psalmist really paints a beautiful word picture for us.

But how does he distinguish the righteous from the wicked?  That’s easy.  He said of the righteous, “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” The difference between the righteous and the wicked is what we do with God’s law – the Word of God.  Of course, God changes us from the inside using the Word of God to bring conviction, spurring us on to repentance, at which time the Holy Spirit begins the process of regeneration.  That’s a fancy word that just means “rebuilding us from the inside.”  Before we came to Christ, the world did a number on us, influencing how we saw things, how we thought about things, our attitudes, and our actions.  And we know that the world is diametrically opposed to anything that God loves, and vice versa.  This regeneration is essential in transforming us into the image of Christ. 

I am an advocate of spending time in God’s word every day.  We all need to find a time and a location where we can get alone with God, digest his word, and listen for his voice. I like to do it first thing in the morning, but you can do it anytime.  It does not have to be hours – spend what time you can. We often think we have to spend hours on our knees before God but, to start off, just try to spend a few minutes every day.  Try to do it at the same time each day, developing a good life habit. Over time, that time with the Lord will grow. 

But it is important to remember that we cannot just read the word, but we need to absorb it.  What do I mean by that?  Well, let me give you an example.  We all live in houses or apartments, and every one of those houses have pipes that bring water to our kitchens and bathrooms.  It’s amazing, you just turn a knob and life-giving water flows out!  That’s important, because we cannot go very long without water.  But that life-giving water does absolutely no good to those pipes.  Why?  Because they are not absorbing the water.  It’s just passing through.  Our Lord designed us with an incredible digestive system, where we put food and liquids into our mouths and our digestive system breaks them down, absorbs the good stuff, and sends the useless stuff out of our bodies.  Without that absorption, we would die of malnutrition. 

Likewise, we need to absorb the word of God.  Like water, our spiritual lives cannot remain healthy and alive without it. Reading it is good but absorption is better.  How do we do that? I can think of three ways. 

First, we should memorize scripture. Memorizing scripture has an amazing effect on us. It gives us the ammunition we need to defeat the enemy. It gives us fuel to encourage others, and ourselves, when needed. And it also cleanses our minds of impure thoughts and feelings. I encourage you to try memorizing one scripture a week this year.  If you do that, this time next year you will have 52 new scriptures in your arsenal. Just like no soldier would go into battle without sufficient ammunition, so we must ensure that we have everything we need at the ready to defeat the enemy of our souls.

Secondly, we need to meditate on scripture.  When you are reading a passage and a verse jumps out at you, stop and just meditate on it.  Ask God to reveal to you what he is trying to speak to you. He will often use our Bible reading time to speak to our hearts. By taking a little time to dwell on the word, you will find that God will illuminate it’s meaning to you.  He wants you to know his word, and He loves answering those prayers.

Finally, we should pray back scripture to God.  What?  That sounds crazy, right?  But don’t knock it until you try it!  I like to turn to a Psalm and pray it back to God.  The Psalms were designed to do that. Find a Psalm that has a particular meaning to you that day and then pray it back to the Lord. It’s a wonderful way to absorb his word and draw closer to him.

So, if we make it our goal to set a time aside every morning to seek the Lord in his word,  we can be like the ones the Psalmist described in Psalm 1: trees that bear fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither. But we cannot just read it, we need to absorb it - memorize it, meditate on it, and pray it back to God.  If you do this, your spiritual life will blossom, and you will grow closer and closer to the Lord.