Psalm 119

MOST DOWNLOADED PSALMS: Psalm 119.

What gets your attention nowadays? In our technologically-advanced world, the cellular phone has become a very important communication tool that a person can own. People pause from whatever it is that they are doing to check on their text messages whenever it would sound off. We give importance to the messages on our mobile phones because we know that the messages are personal, current and relevant.

God has provided a message for us everyday through the scriptures, however, we tend to ignore them because of our misconception that the bible is impersonal, untimely and irrelevant. The word of God says otherwise:

• The Word of God is personal. He knows you from the inside out (Psalm 139:1-3) and he has plans for you (Jeremiah 29:11).
  
  
• God’s word is always timely. He knows what we are going through.
  
  
• God’s word is always relevant. God knows our needs (Matthew 6:8) and our pains.
  

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path” Psalm 119:97-104.

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the bible. It has 22 sections with 8 verses each. In all these sections, David has one major focus: The Word of God.

David was the king of Israel. He was a busy man and yet, he took time to meditate on the word of God (Psalm 119:97). He loved the scriptures more than food (Psalm 119:103).

If we give enough time to read God’s messages through His word, our lives will never be the same. We will deal with business differently, we will raise our children differently and we will deal with morality and ethics differently. We will be wiser than our years if we know the word (Psalm 119:98-99).

THREE WAYS TO GROW IN THE WORD:

1. DESIRE. Desire is defined as an inclination to want things. We will do anything in our power to get the things that we desire. We will make time for the things that we want to do. Everything starts with a desire. Our growth in the word starts with a desire to read and meditate on it.
   
   
2. DISCIPLINE. Discipline does not begin naturally. We need to find a good bible reading plan that will work for us. We can start with 10-15 minutes a day of consistently reading the bible. We need to find a place where we can be alone with God, away from our laptops and our mobile phones.
   

   “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” Hebrews 12:11.
   

3. DELIGHT. We take delight in the Word of God when there is no longer any struggle involved in finding time to read and meditate on it.

READ YOUR BIBLE (RYB) because you will benefit from it. Jesus is the embodiment of the scriptures. The more you read the word, the more you will know Him and understand His will.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” John 1:1.

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