"When Are You Going To Read It?"

My granddaughter Emma was in my bedroom the other day, and picked up my Bible off the table by my bed.  At first she asked me if it was Granddaddy's.  I told her no, it was mine.  Her next question was so innocent, and yet, so profound. 

"When are you going to read it?"


For three-year-old  Emma, who loves to have books read to her, a Bible - or any book for that matter - must have a need to be read. 

Her question though, was a good one.  "When are you going to read it?"  It is a question for us all.  Just when are we going to read it?  Do we read it as a matter of course, a matter of pattern, or only haphazardly?  I would have to confess I have not read the Scriptures as much as I would like to be able to admit to have done.

Perhaps an even better question would be, "Why are you going to read it?"  Do we ready the Bible merely to be able to say we had done so?  Do we do it as a rote thing, or do we do it to communicate with our Lord?

I have a beautiful box with pictures of hydrangeas on the top.  As pretty as the box is, what is inside the box is even better.  The box is full of love letters from my husband.  Well, they aren't actually letters as having been written by hand and sent through the mail, they are emails.  But in this computer generation, we can call them letters.  As love letters should be, they are tied with silk ribbons and are full of expressions of his love for me.


If I were to sit with this box at my feet and read those these letters, perhaps without really even seeing the words, what would be the affect upon his heart?  If I could read letter after letter, then rise without my own heart being touched in any way, what would he think of my response to his outpouring of love and emotion?

Yet, how many times have we perhaps done the same with the Scriptures?  We have looked over the words with our eyes, but never let them reach down to our hearts.  Perhaps we have read the words and then scooted up to our various errands without another thought to what we have read.

One look at Psalm 119 shows us this is not the type of attitude David had regarding the Word of the Lord.  Verse after verse shows the Scriptures to be a lamp, a light and a protection.

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." 

Psalm 119:105

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." Psalm 119:11

David said the Word was something to strengthen, to quicken and to show the way of Truth.

"My soul cleaveth unto the dust: 

quicken Thou me according to Thy word." 

Psalm 119:25 

"My soul melteth for heaviness: 

strengthen Thou me according unto Thy word." 

Psalm 119:28

"I have chosen the way of truth: 

Thy judgments have I laid before me. " 

Psalm 119:30

David didn't confine himself to what the Word would do, he also committed himself to action, to meditate on the Scriptures, to delight in the Word and to not forget it.

"I will meditate in Thy precepts, 

and have respect unto Thy ways." 

Psalm 119:15

  

"I will delight myself in Thy statutes: 

I will not forget Thy word." Psalm 119:16

Let us approach the reading of the Bible as it is, the expression of love from the Lord God to us, to each of us personally.  Let us, like David, "meditate" in the precepts we find therein and "have respect" unto His ways.  Let us choose to delight ourselves in His Word and in return we will discover ". . .the LORD taketh pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek with salvation. " Psalm 149:4