Consumed with Consuming

Get in the Word and Get the Word in.

I was talking to a couple of people yesterday about their time in the Word, both are in very different situations in life; one a high school student and the other a husband & dad. Both told me that they hadn't been spending that much time in the Word.

I understand the problem of not reading; there are plenty of excuses; none valid. Unless you are an ascetic, you eat real food frequently. Most Americans eat multiple times a day, more than we need, more often than we need and when we get slightest hunger pain we say, "I'm starving". Yes, we need to eat, but we are consumed with consuming food.

But what about the part of our life that is more important than physical food? What about our appetite for the Word? We need to ask the question of themselves; "If I am not eating spiritual food, can I be spiritually alive?" Our physical bodies would not take a starvation diet for more than probably 40 days, yet there are people saying they love God and are Christians who haven't eaten for years. They have been fed a little bit here and there, coming to church every now and again and maybe listening to the Word taught, but in many churches the Word is a couple minute addition to the already short message, so how much food are they really getting? Add to that diet the fact that they are distracted or sleeping through some of the message and they are starving spiritually.

Jer. 15:16 When your words came, I ate them;
they were my joy and my heart's delight,
for I bear your name,
O LORD God Almighty.

Deut. 8:2 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

These 2 passages talk about what is in our heart and what we delight in. The admonition to read the Word should not feel like a stacking on of burdens, but a privilege of the believer to hear what God has to say. Notice that God humbled them first, testing the heart and then He fed them. He fed them with manna, a Heavenly food, before He fed them with the true Heavenly food.

We must eat physical food, but at least as importantly, we must feast on the riches of God's Word if we are to grow to be like Him. Oh that we might hunger and thirst for righteousness. Oh to be full vessels, overflowing with the Word, so when we speak we speak the Word that gives life and hope and peace. We must be consumed with consuming the Word.