Delighting in the Word

When I was growing up, I remember viewing the Bible as a textbook about God. In middle
school, I had my Biology, Math, and English textbooks for school, and I had my God textbook for church. I saw the Bible as a book of information about God so that we could learn more about Him in the same way that we learn more about Math. When we learn about Math, we are leaning so that we can use the Math that we learned when we need to use it. Under the surface, I was doing the exact same thing with God. I was seeking to learn more about God simply so that I could know how to access Him and tap into Him whenever I needed Him.

Often times as Christians, we unknowingly treat God and the Bible in the same way that I did when I was in middle school. For some that may mean knowing all of the “Bible answers” in Sunday School for the sake of our Church reputation. For others, that may mean knowing how to “pray properly” to God so that He will be more likely to answer our prayers in a time of need.

However, the Bible tells us to test and examine our ways so that we may see the ways in which our lives align with or stray from that which God through His Scriptures has called us to live. Therefore, we must ask ourselves: “Is this the way that we are called to view Scripture? If not, how has God called us to view it?”

Let’s dive into the book of Psalms for more insight.

“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. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”
- Pslam 1:1-3

The first thing that we ought to notice here is that it does not say that that the man is blessed if he reads the law of the Lord, nor does it say that he is blessed if he knows the law of the Lord. Instead, it says that he is blessed if he delights in the law of the Lord. He loves it. He enjoys it. He meditates on it day and night.

As I mentioned in the introduction, when I was a teenager, my delight was not in the law of the Lord. Instead, my delight was in baseball. I loved it. I meditated on it day and night. It was all I thought about. I studied so much about the game and its history that I can still rattle off almost any baseball statistic off the top of my head. It became ingrained within me.

What if our relationship with the Word of God was similar in this way to my relationship with baseball as a teenager? What would happen? Well, Scripture tells us that we who delight in the law of the Lord are like trees planted by streams of water that yield fruit in its season, and whose leaves do not wither. A tree that is planted by streams of water never thirsts. It is never lacking, it is always content, and it always bears fruit in its season. Its leaves never even wither.

How many of us, however, are like trees planted on the side of I-75? Sure, we are healthy when it rains, but if there is a long period of time without rain, our leaves will be sure to wither; and if there is a serious drought, we are really in trouble. Additionally, if affliction or temptation produces a bolt of lightening that strikes us during said drought, we may end up being consumed in flames within a matter of seconds.

This is why it is so important for us to delight in the Scriptures. If we are planted by a stream that never ceases to flow, then when a drought comes, our leaves will not even be withered, and we will still bear fruit. If we simply rely on knowing the Bible based off what we have heard from others or reading our favorite Bible passages over and over again, we become a tree that is dependent upon the rain that may or may not come.