Our church provided us with a 40 day prayer journal for this season of lent and yesterday was Day 33. Each day has had a different focus, with different scripture references to guide the prayer time. The prayer prompt yesterday was: Pray that God's people would follow the Word of God and delight in reading, memorizing and hiding it in their heart. The scripture references were: John 17:8, Psalm 1:1-3, Psalm 119:11. How are you doing at delighting in God's Word? Is it more than a duty for you to read His word? More than just checking it off your to-do list? Or perhaps you are struggling to carve out anytime at all in your busy schedule to read God's word. What does it look like to delight in God's Word? The Psalmist describes the person in Psalm 1 who delights in God's word as one who meditates on the Word both day and night and who is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. What a beautiful picture, a tree bearing fruit and the leaves not withering. I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel a little bit like my leaves are withering. I lack motivation, I'm tired, I worry about stuff, and I loose focus that God is in control. I know one thing though, a sure way to get back on track is to get back in God's word! To not just read it, but to sit with it, soak in it, repeat it, and share it with others. And pretty soon, the refreshing life-giving water saturates my roots and spreads throughout my branches!
To delight means to, "take great pleasure in". That sounds a lot better than just checking it off of a to-do list! If you are lacking the desire to read God's Word may I suggest you ask God to give it to you? It may start out feeling like duty, or just something you are doing because you are "supposed" to , but as you establish the daily rhythm of hiding God's word in your heart and sitting with him and depending on him, the delight comes! That was what I wrote about in my prayer journal, that more and more people would truly delight, take great pleasure in not only reading God's word but living it out and sharing it with those they live life with on a daily basis. If you are not sure where to start or what to do ask a friend to show you how. I'd be happy to be that person, just comment below or send me an email: amycmeyer10@gmail.com .