EAT GOD’S WORDS

“YOUR WORDS were found and I ATE them, and YOUR WORDS became for me a JOY and the DELIGHT of my heart – Jeremiah 15:16

Those who hold fast to God often have a deep desire and willingness to EAT GOD’S WORD joyfully: “YOUR WORDS were found and I ATE them, and YOUR WORDS became for me a JOY and the DELIGHT of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts” (Jer.15:16). These amazing phrases illustrate the desirable response to God’s words when we find them! When we open up the Bible, we’re meant to dig deep, consume and assimilate God’s words; passionately take them in like a hungry man who sits and settles down to enjoy a feast of good and sumptuous food! Every bite is so good! He dives in to feed fat: “Your words became for me a Joy and delight of my heart.”

God’s words discovered and digested produce Delight! God calls us to delight in His Word. His Word must become a joy to us and the delight of our heart. Our hearts grow to love the Lord. He has called us by name and we grow in our dependence on Him through delighting in His Word. Jeremiah was saying: “My heart loved them. My heart was leaping with joy over Your words, because I’m called by your name, O Lord God of hosts”! God’s Word toward us is connected to His love for us. This is the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of armies of angels, the God who rules and reigns sovereignly over everything on earth and in heaven.

This God knows me, loves me, has called my name, and speaks to me. He gives us words that satisfy and delight our heart. Believers are meant to consume God’s Word through Bible reading, memorising, studying, and meditating. It’s all about eating the Word, and letting them become to us a joy and the delight of our hearts, because the God who spoke them has called our name. He’s the Lord God of hosts, and He loves us, and He is speaking to us through His Word. Scripture leads us to praise God for His Word and for His goodness. His Word delights our hearts. God is willing and able to help us to grow in our experience of delight in God’s Word.

In addition to feeding on His Word, we must ask God to become our Joy! He comes to wean us off the pleasures of this world, freeing our spiritual stomachs, so to speak, of the trivial things in this world, and filling us with the truth of His Word.

Our heart or spirit man yearns to feed on the Living Word. When we meditate on the Word, the spirit man breaks into Joy and Rejoicing: “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psa.119:103). God’s Word is like the best, sweetest desert to the spirit man – our flesh will resist eating the Word, because the same Word that nourishes and strengthens our spirit, kills the carnality of the flesh! The same Word is both life-giving and life-threatening: life-threatening to the flesh and life-giving to the spirit!