Meeting Him there.
Enjoying God: Part 2 (1)
Your words were found, and I ate them,
And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O LORD God of hosts. Jeremiah 15.16
To gulp or to savor?
It’s interesting to compare the way dogs eat with how we do.
I feed my dogs every morning at 7:30. At the same time, I have a small bowl of yogurt and a cup of coffee. After I’ve put their food out, I get comfortable in the dining nook and set my food before me. I scoop a bit of yogurt onto my spoon and spend a few seconds contemplating it as I give hearty thanks to the Lord. Something about the smoothness of the texture and the color of the flavor swirling through (fruit on the bottom) appeals to my eye. At the same time, examining my yogurt creates anticipation, setting up my mouth for the taste as I slowly allow the yogurt to dissolve in my mouth before sending it on to do its work in my body.
Sip of coffee, and I hold the cup under my nose to let the rich aroma excite my olfactory team. Susie makes the best coffee I’ve ever had, and I fully enjoy each cup. Cup after cup.
Back to the yogurt. Repeat the previous discipline perhaps twice. Then coffee, then more yogurt, topped off with another sip of coffee. And so on until both yogurt and coffee are gone.
All told, this process takes me, oh, ten-fifteen minutes? It helps me begin my day with gratitude and joy.
By then, though, both of my dogs, having wolfed down their food—checking it off their dog-brain list of things for me to do for them that day—are sitting in front of me, salivating for their treat. Dogs do not eat their food. They inhale it. Flavor, texture, and variety mean almost nothing to dogs. They don’t think about what they’re eating. It’s just something they do each day because they have to. They’re dogs.
I’m wondering if your time in God’s Word ever looks like that. Hastening to complete a checklist, savoring not a single word or insight, coming away neither satisfied, delighted, nor nourished. Inhaling the Word rather than feeding on it. Finding such times tedious rather than truly exciting and satisfying.
Out from the background
In this series on “Enjoying God” we are considering ways or avenues, if you will, along which we may improve in doing just that, enjoying our relationship with God, finding and knowing the joy of the Lord. We have been redeemed by the Lord so that we might have joy, and that joy comes only from Him. It is His joy we enter as we enjoy Him by the various means He has made available to us.
But all these means have one thing in common: They all are explained to us from the Scriptures, the Word of God. Thus we can safely assume that, while God has given us His Word for many wonderful and glorious purposes, one of the most important of these is that by His Word we might know His joy. Jeremiah seemed to think so, as did Job, who declared, “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23.12). Reading and meditating on Scripture more enjoyable and more important than coffee, yogurt, and everything else?
You betcha.
The more we attend to the Word, daily coming to it for spiritual nourishment; the better we become at savoring the Word, delighting in its variety, expansiveness, insights, and truth; the longer we linger in the Word, meditating and resting in promises and profound truths; and the more we become connoisseurs at the banquet table of the Lord’s Word, the more we will know the joy of God in Scripture and be able to enjoy Him Who feeds us thus.
But how does the joy of the Lord reach us through His Word?
The joy of Scripture
In the joy of being told, over and over, that we are loved with an everlasting love.
In the joy of entering and moving about in a world which, while unseen and mysterious, seems more like home than anything we’ve ever known.
In the joy of discovering again, in one breath, that we are sinners and fools, and being assured, in the next Breath, that forgiveness and restoration are irrevocable promises.
In joy of being swept up in praise to the eternal Creator God. Of contemplating, like a gem with many facets, the beauty of His promises and the vision of His glory, knowing that these gifts are ours, never to be revoked. Of discovering new connections of Scripture with Scripture, hearing as it were the pen of the Holy Spirit writing a new insight on our soul. Of seeing Jesus and knowing Him expanding His Presence in us as His Spirit teaches and shapes us from within. It is the joy of knowing, as we peruse the Holy Word of God, that He is speaking to us in every line, making Himself known through every verse, calling and wooing and drawing us into a deeper and more joyful relationship with Him which nothing in this world can deny.
In short, enjoying God in His Word is the joy of seeing Jesus and of being refreshed and renewed in Him.
Search the Scriptures
1. Consider the following passages: Ps. 68.18; Acts 17.11; and 2 Timothy 3.15-17. In the light of these, what can keep us from enjoying God in His Word?
2. Meditate on Psalm 119.9-11. Comment on the value of memorizing Scripture to enjoy God.
3. Look at Colossians 3.16. How does God want to use you to help other believers enjoy Him more?
Next steps—Preparation: Review your approach to reading, meditating in, and studying God’s Word. Where might you improve so that you know more of His joy from His Word?
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
How should joy affect our lives as Christians? Our booklet, Joy to Your World!, can show you how both to know more of the Lord’s joy and to invite others into it as well. Order your copy by clicking here.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
