Savoring the Scriptures-Part 1

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

Do you have a favorite food? What’s that one dish, or meal, or dessert that you absolutely love? Mine is the enchilada-style shredded beef Burrito Grande from one of our local Mexican restaurants. It is amazing! If I am being good, I will stretch it into two meals. But, I’m not usually that good.

 

How do you feel after you indulge in your favorite food? And no, I don’t mean guilt! I’m talking about that feeling of total satisfaction that you experience just after you savor that amazing dish. Isn’t that a wonderful feeling? This is a feeling that God created and allows. It should not surprise us, then, that God said we could experience that same feeling when we savor His word.

 

Throughout the Bible God says that having a relationship with Him is as satisfying as “the richest of fare” (Isaiah 55:2, NIV). In John 6:35 Jesus says, “’I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” God wants a relationship with us, and he wants that relationship to sustain us and be as satisfying as a fabulous, savory meal.

 

That sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Based on that, you’d think all Christians would be walking around feeling fat and happy (in a spiritual sense) all the time. Didn’t we accept that invitation to the banquet when we accepted Christ as Lord and Savior? The reality is, while we may have arrived at the banquet, many of us are living off the appetizers rather than savoring the sit-down meal. The chips and salsa are easier to reach.  We attend church, we say a daily prayer, we read a good devotion every now and then. These are fabulous appetizers! The sit-down meal though, the Burrito Grande, is more time-consuming and requires more focus, which makes it more difficult to do. Knowing that it is difficult then, indicates that the sit-down meal requires something else; it requires that we trust God to lead us and help us to make it to table.

 

To truly savor the scriptures and grow in our relationship with God requires some planning.

In tomorrow’s blog you will read about the application part of this process.

 

Jackie Moran