Feasting On The Word

First, just wanted to alert you all that I've added a few new links/friends on the right, including Katie's solo blog. So if you aren't getting enough of her on this one (and we aren't - where are you Katja?) then head over there and see what she is up to.

I've lifted the entirety of this post from the blog of a Christian-songwriter-friend-of-the-family named Sue Smith. By the way, is this sort of thing allowed in Blogland?

March 29, 2006

I was reminded of something yesterday. I have to confess that I'd gotten pretty sloppy about reading my Bible each day. I could give you a whole list of excuses, but the truth is... I'd gotten pretty sloppy about it, knowing that I could "catch up" somewhere along the line and still read all the through by the end of the year.

Yesterday I was reading in Deuteronomy, chapter eight, where Moses is talking to the Israelites before they cross over into the Promised Land. He reminds them how God has taken care of them throughout their wandering in the wilderness. God let them go hungry and then he fed them with manna. Then Moses says, "He did it to teach you that people need more than bread for their life; real life comes by feeding on every word of the LORD."

I love watching the Food Network and have recently enjoyed watching their competition/reality show to choose the next Food Network Star. During one of the shows, someone... maybe Rachel Ray... was explaining to the potential "stars" some of the nuts and bolts of actually taping a television show. She talked about how important it was to really eat the food at the end of the show to let the audience see how delicious it is. I have to admit that everybody on the Food Network really sells it, but I think maybe Rachel Ray does it the best. When she dishes up one of her 30-minute meals and proclaims it "delish," well I'm totally convinced.

Rachel doesn't just shovel the food into her mouth without thinking. She smells it and loves the smell. She looks at it and is bowled over by the way it looks. She imagines serving it to others and how they'll enjoy it. She tells you about all the other times she's cooked this food and served it. And then, she takes a big bite, and oh man, you really wish you were there having some yourself. The point is she "feasts" on that food.

That's what God wants us to do with His Word. He wants us to enjoy it every single day, to notice its variety, to give it our full attention.

I've sort of been on a fasting-gorging schedule for the past few weeks. Not good. Not the way to get the most nourishment and to enjoy all the wonder and beauty God's Word has to offer.

So I'm on a steady diet again. No starving. No over-eating either. Just the right amount to give me my day's nourishment. That'll be plenty to digest, just the way God planned it.