Reclaimed DisciplinesSample

Prayer: God, your word is a gift. Thank you for revealing yourself to me through it! Grant me perseverance and understanding through the Holy Spirit to long for time reading your word. Every day, show me more about who you are in your word and lead me to love you more. 

Delight in the Word of the Lord

The Bible is amazing. Seriously. It is God’s own inspired word, penned by 40 different human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, over the time span of around 1,500 years, and it all has a central theme of God’s Glory and Grace. God spoke through human authors to reveal Himself and His purpose to the world. He uses this book to show us the best thing He could ever give us: Himself. How kind of God to reveal Himself through the Scriptures! What a beautiful and generous gift for the Creator of the universe to put in our hands: a revelation of Himself through which we can meet with Him and know Him more deeply. 

Maybe this is the root of the Psalmist’s delight in the word of the Lord in Psalm 119. These 176 verses of song are all about how amazing the law, or word, of the Lord is. It’s the account of someone who takes ultimate delight in the word of God, as much as all riches (v. 14). He writes that “his soul is consumed with longing” for the word (v. 20). He knows that through this book, he can know God, meet with Him, and learn God’s best instruction for living. What’s our attitude toward the Bible? Are we “consumed with longing” for the Bible every day? 

Look in the Word:

1. God has given us the tremendous gift of revealing Himself through Scripture. How might we respond to that? 
2. Psalm 19:10 says that Scripture ought to be desired more than the finest gold. Does your attitude toward the Bible reflect that? What’s hindering you from loving the Word of God like these authors?

What’s Next?

1. Look at your calendar or planner for this week. Plan ahead for times that you know you can devote to Bible reading, and schedule them into your week. Think about how you can implement this more often, making it a regular “discipline” in your life. Remember, it’s okay to start small!
2. Find a Bible reading plan. Not sure where to start? Try one of the four Gospels, narratives of Jesus’ life, reading one chapter each day!
3. As you read, consider these questions: What does this passage tell me about God? What does it tell me about man? What should I do in response to this passage? Pray for understanding and transformation.