Put Down Your Phone, Write Out a Psalmਨਮੂਨਾ

Was David a foodie?

God’s word is like food. It sustains and tastes good.

How sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103, NRSV)

Nourishment is a theme of this passage. David doesn’t just think of the food he’s fed as something practical. He’s not looking for plain oatmeal that will stick to his ribs to get through the day, a pragmatic fuel for the body to survive.

The words he meditates on are more than that. They’re rich, delicious, and tasty! His is a trained palate that enjoys the sweetness and flavours of the text.

There’s something joyful about reading scripture for David. It’s a meal that has flavourful profiles, texture, and taste. If you take time to reflect on the verse above, you get a sense that, like good food which is thoughtfully prepared with fresh ingredients, plated with creativity, consumed in fellowship, so too is God’s word for the consumer.

We often race through the drive-thru to get our quick nutrient hit as we go about our busy day. A popular verse here, a quick proverb there. What happens when we make ourselves chew the 40 chews per mouthful that scientists recommend, and take time to savour what we swallow?

How we eat directs our feet

The answer to the leading question above is in my pithy little heading: How we eat really does direct our feet. God’s word brings flavour and direction. That’s because it is a lamp that lights up the darkness, revealing the single step ahead that we should take.

A key metaphor throughout Psalm 119 is that life with God, living according to his word, is a way, a path that we walk. You can’t avoid this metaphor, especially if you take time to read the biggest Psalm verse by verse.

Where you put your feet matters:

• I hold back my feet from every evil way (101)
• I do not turn away from your ordinances (102)

What’s so interesting about these verses is the implication, what’s not said. There’s an interplay between the reader and the Word here. David is highlighting that the law of God helps define where he should not go. As David avoids the pitfalls and booby traps, keeping himself from them, a path is revealed.

Note that this is off-page. There isn’t a footnote for David or each of us. "Do this, Reader, this is your life’s purpose!"

Instead the journey is revealed step over step as the narrator starts sharing the way personally, between the lines of the text, as we avoid the dead ends, hazards, and cliff drops clearly defined.

How wonderful and delicious to the soul that our narrator is God himself!

Action steps

• Get a journal or some paper and a pen.
• Put your phone in a drawer or another room.
• Get a physical Bible (so you won't get distracted by anything else).
• Take time to write out Psalm 119: 97 - 112 verse by verse.
• Reflect on what God is highlighting as you write it out.