Text: Psalm 119:97-105
Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. I have not departed from Your judgments, For You Yourself have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
Devotion
Do you also consider God’s Word that precious? Is it your best treasure and your sweetest delight? Stop and think about it! Does God’s Word taste sweeter to you than everything else? Is it more precious to you than gold? Sadly many people read newspapers, but let their Bible sit unused. They love to go to parties, but hardly ever attend church; and when they do go, it is not to listen to what God the Lord says to them. They don’t know that they are despising and neglecting the most glorious thing God has given us. They don’t know that they walk in darkness, because the darkness has blinded their eyes.
But if you have tasted the heavenly gifts and have been made partaker in the Holy Spirit, have tasted God’s good Word and the powers of the world to come, then you rejoice in the Word and wouldn’t lose it for all the world. “O the Bible is so dear! It is a precious treasure. A life without it must be a puzzling night! This book on every page testifies to God’s love in His Son, who came down to earth to suffer for us.” Yet I am sure that you want to love God’s Word more than you do, and this you can do in these two ways: 1) Ponder it all day long. When your thoughts are not taken up with your daily work, then let them be busy with God’s Word, and when you might think about other things, then don’t forget that God is with you, – just as when faithful children are cared for by their parents’ watchful care. I have known young people who always had their New Testament in their pocket and used every free moment to read it, and I have known people who never got tired of searching the Scriptures; – their face had something of Tabor’s glow. Read thoughtfully, read in context, and compare various Bible passages; and make use of the help the Spirit gives you in the commentaries of sainted teachers. Don’t say you don’t want to do this or don’t have the opportunity. You have begun to love God’s Word. So don’t sin by neglecting this love, but cultivate it, and overcome the objections and laziness of the flesh by using the Word. 2) Walk faithfully in the light of the Word, hate every false way and follow the Lord’s precepts. Do everything according to the Word, don’t take one step without its instruction. Ask for everything that you need if it is according to God’s Word and is pleasing to the Lord. Surely do what He says, but never do what He hates. Then you shall be able to see your sin and become poor and hungry for the grace of the Gospel and love it. Our Bible lesson reveals to us these double-doors into the sanctuary of the Word. Come, enter, and see the Lord’s glory, and drink from the stream of His joy!
Closing Prayer
Grant us this great favor, merciful God! Enlighten us with Your Spirit, give us devotion to consider Your Word and give us holy desire to live according to it. Amen.
Hymn
Dearest Jesus, draw Thou near me,
Let Thy Spirit dwell with mine;
Open now my ear to hear Thee,
Take my heart and seal it Thine;
Keep me, lead me on my way
Thee to follow and obey,
E’er to do Thy will and fear Thee,
And rejoice to know and hear Thee.
Kingo: L 18:1 ELH 13:1 tr. C. K. Solberg;
tune: Werde munter