LIVE BY THE BOOK
Howard Hendricks one of the greatest Bible teacher related that early in his life, a Sunday school teacher had given him a Bible. Inside the front cover was written the following note. “This Book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.” When I was about ten years of age, my mother started me on a scripture memory program. She recommended an entire chapter of the Bible! The one she started me on was not an ordinary chapter by any means.
I learnt later that it was the longest chapter of the Bible! It contained 176 verses, each arranged in a series of eight verses. For each eight verses I memorized, I would earn a dime. Early in my scripture memory program, I came across this verse in Psalm 119:11. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” There is no doubt that she was very familiar with this verse and had chosen these series of verses carefully so as to impact my life with the word of God in such a way that it would keep me from sin. (Richard Spann)
God has given us a manual on how human beings are to operate at maximum level. The Bible tells us what it takes to live a life to the full now and how to prepare to live forever. Psalm 1 state that a person who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night is godly. He does not just hear it and forget it, he ponders on it. He delights in God’s decrees and does not neglect his word (Ps. 119:16), in his inner being he delights in God’s law” (Rom. 7:22). His constant prayer is “direct me in the path of your command, for there I find delight (Ps 119:35). That man is blessed (Ps. 112:1).
Perhaps the psalmist had the words in Joshua 1:7-8 in mind when he wrote this verse. After Moses died and Joshua took his place, God gave Joshua these instructions “keep this Book of the law always on your lips, meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Joshua 1:7-8). In other words “Joshua study my word, believe it and live it because your success depends on it!”
To meditate on God’s word can be likened to a cow chewing its cud. A cow takes grass and chews it just enough to swallow. Later the softened grass (cud) is brought back to the mouth and chewed repeatedly. As the cow lies down and as it stands and walks about it chews its cud. It then swallows it for final digestion. Finally the digested cud enters the bloodstream and is spread throughout the body. It is assimilated into the body becoming an inseparable part. It provides nutrients to the cow and milk to its master.
To get maximum benefit from the word of God, we read a Scripture and think about it over and over again as we go about our daily tasks and when we lie down in bed at night. Isaac went out to the field to meditate (Gen. 24:63). The psalmist meditated at night (Ps. 63:6). The goal of meditation is to fill the mind with the word of God. This can be done by carefully thinking about each word and phrase. We ask ourselves “What does it mean? Is there a blessing in it? Is the blessing conditional? Is it a rebuke? Is it a correction? Is it an instruction? How can I live it out? (2Tim. 3:16)
Meditation allows the word to permeate our thinking process. Thinking about the word repeatedly deepens its impression on us and sets it in our hearts. God’s word enters our mind, heart and finally actions. The Bible is internalized and it becomes the singular standard for faith and practice. Every thought, every move, every decision is made against the backdrop of what God’s word has to say about an issue. As we spend time daily in His word, we are not simply getting informed, our lives are being changed into His likeness by His Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18).
To keep the children from getting enticed by the sins of Canaan, the land they were about to occupy, God instructed the parents “These commandments…are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about then when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your forehead. Write them on the door frames of your house and on your gates (Deut. 6: 6-9). Filling their heart with God’s word would keep sin away (Psalm 119:11). Their light would keep shining in the dark without going off (John 1:5).
In Deuteronomy 17:19 we read “And he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them.” The verse speaks about consistency; we are to read all the days of our lives. The verse further gives us the purpose of our daily reading. It is to learn to fear the LORD our God. Our goal is to know Him fully, to love Him deeply, to worship Him perfectly and to fear Him completely.
The most important thing for man on earth is to know God and his ways. The word of God makes us able to see life through his eyes of God. Charles Swidoll gives six benefits of being spiritually informed
1. Knowledge gives substance to faith- On what do those who don’t know the truth rely. On emotions, feelings, somebody else opinion, traditions, humanistic hope. As a result their faith lacks substance.
2. Knowledge stabilizes us during times of testing- when we know what God has said and then we go through a period of pain, when the bottom nearly drops out of our life we don’t panic, we don’t doubt, we don’t ship our faith. The knowledge we have gained stabilizes us and equips us with the essential calming fortitude when the testing comes.
3. Knowledge equips us to handle the scripture accurately.
4. Knowledge equips us to detect and confront error. When you know what you belief no one can get you off-course. When you hear erroneous information you can tell right away.
5. It makes us confident in our daily walk. As you expose yourself daily to the scriptures you develop confidence. People who know the Bible are not easily intimidated
6. Spiritual truth filters out our fears and superstitions
Different metaphors are used for the word of God. They include a mirror (James 1:23), a sword (Heb 4:12-13 ) and a lamp (psalm 119:105,130).A mirror enables you to see what you look like in the eyes of men. The Bible is a sword, it judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It allows us to see ourselves as God sees us. We never truly know ourselves until we read the Word of God. The word revives; it has the power to give life to the spiritually dead. We live in a very dark world, the word of God gives us light, it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path so that we do not stumble and hurt ourselves in the many traps Satan has set for us.
The godly man takes pleasure in knowing and doing the will of God. He is in constant touch with God. If a person delights in something he spends much time doing it. Some delight in football, others in watching movies, others in making money. You can measure your delight for the word of God by how much time you spend in it. A person who delights in knowing and doing the will of God is blessed. When we study and then obey God’s word, we taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8).
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