Loving God’s Word
When we want to learn a new skill, we take care to learn everything we can about that subject.
Artists try different supplies and techniques to enhance their art. Musicians practice their music measure by measure, note by note, in order to memorize and perfect the song they are learning. Architects and engineers memorize and practice advanced math in order to design and build safe structures.
We give our time and minds to things so that we can use them well.
King David wanted to know God. He knew in order to know God, he would need to know God’s Word, because he knew that Scripture would keep him from sinning against God. He even wrote:
“I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.”
Psalm 119:15 ESV
This is a valuable lesson for us to learn as well: if we want to know God, to know Jesus, then we need to know God’s Word.
Just as we give our minds to the study of history or math, or we practice an instrument in order to play it well, we must also give our minds and time to knowing God’s Word. We should meditate on Scripture and fix our eyes on what Jesus has taught us. When we do this, we store up His wonderful Word in our hearts and it keeps us from sinning against Him.
We can know exactly what God wants and desires for us by reading Scripture.
His Word gives us boundaries, guidance, and direction. His Word shows His purposes and character. His Word reveals to us who He is, and we get to respond with joy and obedience. So today, what will you give your time to? In what ways will you store up God’s Word in your heart?
Note after sharing the devotional: there's a lot from this devotional that resonates with me, on multiple fronts. Even though I am no longer a full-time professional musician, I certainly understand what goes into practicing in order to know how to play a piece, but even more so to then master that piece (which requires even more practicing). Not only so, but it is a reflection of developing that skill over time, measured not only in days and weeks but also in months and years. As I approach and enter middle age, I look back over all the years that I was playing the piano, whether in seasons of higher intentionality and intensity, or in seasons of lower intentionality and intensity; whether in a time when I was more focused on the Classical approach (technique, scales, expression, articulation, and almost always where I was the solo performer or the sole accompanist) or the jazz/rock approach (overall more lax regarding technique, expression, etc, except with a higher focus on rhythmic tightness and togetherness with the other members of the band). What I have found is that more often than not, true measurement of the fruits of developing one's skill can only really be measured over the course of years, and by faith I will also say, decades. Unfortunately, with piano/keyboard playing, because I haven't kept up nearly as much with it since changing careers as I did prior to that, let alone when I was in college going for my Bachelor's in Music (which necessitated intensive study on my primary instrument, which was indeed the piano). My technique today is far inferior to what it was 20 years ago, but my overall knowledge and understanding from my overall experiences including at that time and since then is far superior to it, simply due to the accumulation of said knowledge and understanding in this area.
Interestingly, the art metaphor also resonated with me. In 2019, when I was in the middle of the worst compositional drought of my life to date, one outlet I did find that allowed me to find a way to express any creativity was through drawing with colored pencils. My drawing style is still quite basic, and my color palette limited to the top 10 primary/common colors, but that suited me quite well as the constraints allowed me to focus on making the most of the scope of talent that I did have. I actually think those drawings that I made (correction: that God and I made together, as this was one vehicle that He and I used to communicate within our relationship) were pretty darn good. Although I speak as if my talent were limited (and it was), I still look back with joy that, with God, I was able to make some quality drawings that expressed exactly what I needed for their intended purposes. With God, I was able to draw what I saw, and my talent level and palette matched it perfectly.
Further, the correlation between the artist example, the musician example, and the example of building our faith and relationship with God also resonated with me. Since arriving at my current church, one of the many common themes preached was about intentionally spending time with God. Ahead of this arrival, while still at my previous church, I had prayed for a while about having the opportunity to gain proper spiritual formation, which my previous church hadn't been doing for quite a while at that point. It took a couple years, and an extended season of backsliding yet again, but over the last couple years I have been devoting time almost every day to spending time with the Lord, whether through prayer, through devotion, through Bible study, through Biblical reflection, or all of the above. Part of why I nowadays blog frequently is that God has provided me a space to share the Gospel of my Lord and King Jesus Christ but also process still-unresolved life events and seasons through a Biblical lens (or at least, trying to).
My pastor has occasionally referred to the Bible as a love letter from God to us, and occasionally within those occasions, referred to Psalm 119 as one long love letter back to God regarding how good and right His Law is. Now, we know that there's more to the Christian faith than only following the law. In fact, from a recent post, what opened me up to the Gospel in college was hearing a friend of mine explain that, yes, we have to be perfect in order to have eternal life with Jesus, but the one and only way to attain that perfection is to stop striving and to actually surrender our lives and our all to Him as Lord, King, and Savior. Apostle Paul also talks about this in his letter to the church in Rome:
Interestingly, the art metaphor also resonated with me. In 2019, when I was in the middle of the worst compositional drought of my life to date, one outlet I did find that allowed me to find a way to express any creativity was through drawing with colored pencils. My drawing style is still quite basic, and my color palette limited to the top 10 primary/common colors, but that suited me quite well as the constraints allowed me to focus on making the most of the scope of talent that I did have. I actually think those drawings that I made (correction: that God and I made together, as this was one vehicle that He and I used to communicate within our relationship) were pretty darn good. Although I speak as if my talent were limited (and it was), I still look back with joy that, with God, I was able to make some quality drawings that expressed exactly what I needed for their intended purposes. With God, I was able to draw what I saw, and my talent level and palette matched it perfectly.
Further, the correlation between the artist example, the musician example, and the example of building our faith and relationship with God also resonated with me. Since arriving at my current church, one of the many common themes preached was about intentionally spending time with God. Ahead of this arrival, while still at my previous church, I had prayed for a while about having the opportunity to gain proper spiritual formation, which my previous church hadn't been doing for quite a while at that point. It took a couple years, and an extended season of backsliding yet again, but over the last couple years I have been devoting time almost every day to spending time with the Lord, whether through prayer, through devotion, through Bible study, through Biblical reflection, or all of the above. Part of why I nowadays blog frequently is that God has provided me a space to share the Gospel of my Lord and King Jesus Christ but also process still-unresolved life events and seasons through a Biblical lens (or at least, trying to).
My pastor has occasionally referred to the Bible as a love letter from God to us, and occasionally within those occasions, referred to Psalm 119 as one long love letter back to God regarding how good and right His Law is. Now, we know that there's more to the Christian faith than only following the law. In fact, from a recent post, what opened me up to the Gospel in college was hearing a friend of mine explain that, yes, we have to be perfect in order to have eternal life with Jesus, but the one and only way to attain that perfection is to stop striving and to actually surrender our lives and our all to Him as Lord, King, and Savior. Apostle Paul also talks about this in his letter to the church in Rome:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2, NKJV
Let's be clear, though: the Law is still the Law. God is still holy, and He still requires holiness of us, as it is thus written:
For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Leviticus 11:44, NKJV
For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. Leviticus 11:45, NKJV
“Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Leviticus 19:2, NKJV
Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 20:7, NKJV
And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine. Leviticus 20:26, NKJV
Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy. Leviticus 21:8, NKJV
And, just in case anyone thinks that this is only an Old Testament theology:
but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16, NKJV
But the point is, although the Law is perfect and is there to show us that we are sinners, we are not saved merely by following the law because we can't. Not on our own strength.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3-4, NKJV
For this reason, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to this earth to die on a cross for our sins to pay the due penalty for all sin. What this means is that, without Jesus's sacrifice, we would be paying that penalty. That would mean we would be condemned, separated from God for all eternity. In other words, we would spend eternity in hell to be tormented by Satan and his demons. But because of Jesus Christ's blood sacrifice on the cross, we have a way out.
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:56-57, NKJV
And because Jesus has given us this way out from eternal death, He also gives us the victory over sin and death, if we receive Him as our Savior and follow Him as our King and Lord.
But it is easy to forget this. I unfortunately forget this regularly, which is why I have to find a way to remind myself of this every day, as often as possible. Spending time in Scripture every day is paramount if I am to remember who God is and what He has done for me. Not only so, but if I am to actually walk this out:
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. James 1:22-24, NKJV
Therefore, just like perfecting a performance of a musical piece, or perfecting one's artistic craft, etc., spending time in the Bible is the one and only way to also grow in knowledge and wisdom -- and faith -- because, like was mentioned above, we have to be perfect here also. That perfection is only attainable by knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord, King, and Savior (and not just knowing about Him, which doesn't count because it doesn't please Him). And to know Him requires three parts: 1.) receiving Him, 2.) surrendering control of your life to Him, and 3.) spending time with Him like you would in any relationship, except even more so, and this requires spending time in His Word, the Bible. Why the Bible? Because, as it is written:
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16, NKJV
I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways. Psalm 119:15, NKJV (today's highlight verse)
Finally, one more verse to provide extra backup and support on all the above:
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Joshua 1:8, NKJV
Let us therefore pray:
Prayer: Father God, thank You for giving me Your Word. Scripture is brimming with truth and life, and I never want to take that for granted. I know that I am easily distracted, but I also know that You give me the strength to persevere. Show me how to meditate on Your Word so that I don't disobey You. Teach me to prioritize my relationship with You above everything else. In Jesus's name, Amen.
