You need as much as you can get

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The power of words”

Our Bible verse for today: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word. I have sought you with all my heart; don’t let me wander from your commands. I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.” Psalm 119:9-11 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You need as much as you can get”

I love Psalm 119. It’s the longest chapter in the Bible and it’s all about the Bible. The writer spends 176 verses expressing his love for the Word of God. He writes of his complete dependence on it and the value of being immersed in it.

Almost thirty-five years ago, as a new Christian, I had the good fortune to stumble upon a biography about the life of the famous missionary to China, Hudson Taylor. One thing in his story that had a deep impact on me at the time, and which has stayed with me ever since, is something that happened to him as a young man as he was responding to his call from God to be a missionary. Hudson realized that many of the great men and women of God who he admired all seemed to have one thing in common – they all had the habit of reading the Bible cover-to-cover, over-and-over again. Some of them had read the entire Bible fifty times, seventy-five, even one hundred times.

Taylor resolved that he was going to develop that habit as well. His goal was to read the Bible cover-to-cover at least forty times in his lifetime. (I believe he ultimately did it more than that.) When I read that about Hudson Taylor, and realized that so many others have had that habit too (to their great benefit), I decided I would adopt it for myself. I resolved to read the Bible every day, and to read it cover-to-cover at least once a year, sometimes twice a year. That was almost thirty-five years ago and I continue that practice to this day.

Now, let me be quick to point out an obvious danger here: It’s easy to fall into the trap of simply reading for milage instead of for depth. In other words, you assign yourself a certain number of chapters to read each day and then you power through it to quickly get it done. I encourage you to avoid that. Read the Bible like the story it is, yes. Read it like you would read any other book. But also, be sure to study it. Read large volumes of it, but you should also be conducting a deeper study of individual books or passages. You need to go deep as well as wide in your reading.

Reading the Bible like a book and simply immersing yourself in large volumes of Scripture every day, is of immense value. Just like watching your favorite movie numerous times, or listening to a favorite song over-and-over again, reading and rereading the story of the Bible makes it more-and-more your story, one that you know well and treasure in your heart.

I encourage you to immerse yourself in the Word of God every day. You need as much of it as you can get.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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