DELIGHT IN THE WORD

“But his DELIGHT is in the law of the LORD, and in his law he meditates day and night” – Psalm 1:2

Rewarding Meditation in and nourishing feeding on the Word demands that you DELIGHT in the WORD: “But his DELIGHT is in the law of the LORD, and in his law he MEDITATES DAY and NIGHT” (Psa.1:2). This is the central point of Psalm 1: “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in his law he MEDITATES DAY and NIGHT” (Psa.1:2). You are not likely to meditate or feed on a diet you do not delight in! The Law of the Lord refers to the Word of the Lord.  Whoever delights in His Word so much that he meditates day and night would be delivered from the ways of the wicked, shielded from the path of sinners, and secured from the seat of scoffers (v.1). Such a person is made fruitful, flourishing, and prosperous: “he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper” (v.3).

Beloved, you do not need to be a preacher to qualify to delight in, and meditate and feast on God’s Word. You cannot be too busy on a career or job; you cannot be too preoccupied with family and friends as not to be able to make time to meditate on the Word day and night. These scriptural instructions were not written for people who do not have much to do. Joshua the leader was not a loafer. King David was definitely not jobless! God wrote these promises to all of us and we can all meditate on the Word day and night and still have a life, a family, and a career. God doesn’t expect you to quit your job and take on ministry “full time” in order to meditate on the Word day and night. He wrote His Word to regular, busy people. We can all, without exception, follow His directions in Joshua 1 and Psalm 1 and have good success.

God doesn’t say we had to meditate on the Word every minute of the day and every minute of the night for us to succeed. He says “day and night” – which means at the minimum, when the sun is up and when the sun is down. That’s the way most people eat: day and night, not all day and all night. If they did that, they wouldn’t have time to do anything else. People eat at specific times – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – not every moment of each day. People eat and still have a life. You can feed and feast on God’s Word day and night and still have a vibrant life. Indeed, the Word gives deeper and richer meaning to the secular aspects of your life.

Whatever we are delighted in, we make time for. No matter how busy we are, we still manage to work time to eat into our schedule. What God demands is that we do the same with His Word. Feeding on the Word once or twice a week is not sufficient. We would never attempt to live on one or two meals a week. For the Word to do its work in your life, you need a consistent and balanced diet every day. Word the Word into your life. Beware of compartmentalising the Word and limiting it only to church or one fleeting daily devotional time. And do not handle the Word like a snack or junk food. At the least, you need a day and night pattern to grow in God.

Think of this: as long as the delight is intact, you never stop eating! As much as your spirit should be saturated with God’s Word, don’t think you can get ahead by reading the whole Bible in a day. The Word is much like food for the body. No matter how much you eat today, you still need to eat tomorrow. To be strong today, you need to eat today. No matter how much you’ve had in the past, you still need your daily portion today.