A LOVE FOR THE WORD
Consider how I love Your precepts;
Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.
Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.
Psalm 119:159
TAKING IT IN
During his courtship with a young woman named Julia Dent, Ulysses S. Grant once took her out for a buggy ride. Coming to a flooded creek spanned by a flimsy bridge, Grant assured Julia that it was safe to cross. “Don’t be frightened,” he said. “I’ll look after you.” “Well,” replied Julia, “I shall cling to you whatever happens.”
True to her word, she clung tightly to Grant’s arm as they drove safely across. Grant drove on in thoughtful silence for a few minutes, then cleared his throat and said, “Julia, you said back there that you would cling to me whatever happened. Would you like to cling to me for the rest of our lives?” She would, and they were married in August 1848.
I don’t know about you, but I am always drawn to a great love story.
In Psalm 119:159, the psalmist is asking the Lord to consider how he “loves” His precepts. This word “love” in its definition here sparks an idea rich with meaning that challenges our relationship with the Word of God.
The Hebrew word for love used here is “ahab”. Love in the sense of “ahab” usually refers to the love between people (husband and wife, parent and child, friends) or of people toward God.
You will be surprised to see how this word is used in Proverbs 18:24
A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend (ahab) who sticks closer than a brother.
The word “ahab”also implies the idea of affection, or a fond attachment or devotionto.
From these definitions we begin to understand just what kind of relationship the writer had with the Word of God. Just like Ulysses’ and Julia’s love story, he knew the Word of God would look after him in every situation and he would cling to it for the rest of his life.
MAKING IT MEANINGFUL
The questions that rise up out of this passage are this:
- Do I have a passionate affection for the Word of God?
- Am I fond of it?
- Do I have a tendency to be drawn to it throughout my day?
- Is it my closest friend?
- Am I enjoying a “relationship” with God in His Word or has the Word become a “duty”?
It is Spurgeon who describes this idea so well:
All human books grow stale after a time- but with the Word of God the desire to study it increases, while the more you know of it the less you think you know. The Book grows upon you: as you dive into its depths, you have a fuller perception of the infinity which remains to be explored. You are still sighing to enjoy more of that which it is your bliss to taste.
WORKING IT INTO MY HEART
As the psalmist asks God to consider his love for the Word, we too must consider our relationship with the Word as we seek a true and genuine work of revival, for it is according to His Word that we make our plea.
Perhaps the depth of this consideration ponders the very thought that we love the Word because He is the Word.
Thomas Watson, a Puritan writer and preacher in the 1600’s penned an amazing sermon based on Psalm 119:97 called, “A Godly Man is a Lover of God’s Word”.
I have attached a link PDF A Godly Man is Lover of the Word and pray that you will make time this week to ponder it and meditate upon its great truths. It truly portrays what this love and affection for the Word of God looks like. May it inspire your love and rekindle your passion for the Word of God, for without it we cannot be revived.