30 Days - an Overview of the Bible in Just Thirty Daysනියැදිය

How can the Bible become your Delight

Psalm 1:1-6

Before I encountered Jesus the Bible seemed a very dull book. Now I love the Bible because it is all about the person of Jesus who I know and love.

In Psalm 1, the psalmist says that his ‘delight is in the law of the Lord’. All he had at this stage were the first five books of the Bible (‘the law’). They were his delight. He encourages us to do as he did – ‘to meditate day and night’ – which involves reading and thinking about the words of the Bible regularly. Perhaps set aside a particular time each day to study God’s word.

The key to lasting – and ultimately eternal – fruitfulness and vitality lies in your relationship with God. As you seek to follow ‘the way of the righteous’, you are assured that the Lord himself will watch over you. The psalmist encourages us that if you delight in the law of the Lord in this way, then you can be confident that:

1. You will produce fruit

The psalmist says, ‘They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in season’. This promise is that as you immerse yourself in the Bible, your life will produce fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. Not only will your own life change but this fruit will include the transformation of other people’s lives. It is not only for your benefit that you read the Bible but so that you can be a blessing to others: your friends, colleagues, neighbours and the society in which you live. This is the fruit that will last into eternity.

2. You will persevere

The second promise given to those whose delight in the word of the Lord is that they will be like trees whose ‘leaves do not wither’. If you stay close to Jesus through his word, you will not dry up or lose your spiritual vitality. It is not enough to have great spiritual experiences, although they are very important and very wonderful. Unless you are deeply rooted in Jesus, in his word and in that relationship with him, you won’t be able to withstand the storms of life. If you are rooted in that relationship and delighting in his word, then when the storms come you will stand firm.

3. You will prosper

The psalmist says that the person who delights in the word of God will prosper in ‘whatever they do’. Your life may not be one of material prosperity, but you will prosper in the ways that really matter in life: in your relationship with God, your relationships with others and the transforming of your character into the likeness of Jesus Christ. These things are far more valuable than material wealth.

With the psalmist and millions of other Christians, why not determine to make the Bible your delight? Decide today to make reading the Bible a high priority in your life. Read it every day, if possible. The promise of Scripture is that if you delight in the words of the Lord you will become like a tree planted by streams of water, you will yield ‘fruit’ in your life and you will prosper in whatever you do.

The old-fashioned expression ‘the quiet time’ (meaning time set aside to read the Bible and pray) probably has its origin in the words of Jesus, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place’.Practically every morning since I was eighteen years of age, I have begun the day in this way. I try to spend time with Jesus, by myself, in a quiet place. Sometimes it is very brief, sometimes it is longer. But just as I do not like beginning the day without breakfast, I cannot imagine beginning the day without spiritual food.

Nearly always, I start by reading the Bible, as I believe it’s more important that Jesus speaks to me than I speak to him. My thoughts from each day are now the basis of the notes alongside the passages in this book and in the Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel.

As we come to the end of 30 Days, I encourage you to make this a life-long habit. Start by challenging yourself to read thewholeBible in a year. My prayer is that it will be a life-changing experience as you enter into a deeper intimacy in your relationship with Jesus and develop a passion for the word of God.

The evangelist and missionary George Müller began a ministry that rescued thousands of starving orphans from death in the slums of England. He established 117 schools and offered Christian education to over 120,000 children. As important as his role was in showing these needy children the love of their heavenly Father, the ministry was never Müller’s first priority. He believed God’s highest call on his life was for intimate relationship with him.

God had shown him that the way to have this was through daily Bible meditation. He said, ‘God showed me that I should go to his word to chew on it early in the morning. This is not something I do for my ministry, but something for me personally, that I would be nourished.’ History testifies to the tremendous impact this meditation had on his life and ministry. Imagine what God will accomplish through you as you start each day by meditating on the words of the Bible.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for your Scriptures. ‘Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law’. Help me to encounter you each day in the pages of the Bible.

References

© Nicky Gumbel, 2024

This reading plan is adapted from the book 30 Days by Nicky Gumbel. It is published by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK, and by HarperCollins Christian Publishing in the USA.