Reading the Bible – Daily
Servant
School
November
4, 2021
Introduction
Welcome to our “Reading the Bible” class
We are on a journey that I hope will lead you into a lifelong habit of
reading your Bible every day.
This week I’d like to look at the first three verses of Psalm 1, and the
benefits that come from being in God’s Word every day.
(Psalm 1 NKJV) —1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in
the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his
delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be
like a tree Planted by
the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its
season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
We are just going to pull a few things from these verses…
:1 Blessed is the man who …
Blessed – ‘esher
– happiness, blessedness
There are two verbs in Hebrew meaning “to bless.” One is bārak and the other ‘esher. There are some important differences between
the two words.
Bārak is sometimes used in relation
to God where God bestows His “blessing” or spiritual bounty on someone, whereas
‘esher is
never used in relation between God and man.
‘Esher is solely used of man towards
man and seems to carry the idea of “envious desire”, as in “I wish I had what
you have”. God doesn’t “bless” man with the word ‘esher because God doesn’t wish He could
be like us (it’s us who wish we were more like Him).
The word used here is ‘esher.
What we’re going to look at is not as much the idea of “God’s
blessing” on a person, but the idea of being a person that others wish they
could be like. The one to admire.
Lesson
Who do you want to be like?
We live in a world where certain types of people are held up as heroes and
the ones we want to be like.
For some folks, it’s all about the money.
We look at a person like Elon Musk and say to ourselves, “boy is he
blessed”, or “I would sure like to have his money”.
For some folks it’s about beauty, attraction, and sex.
We see articles about ugly men who have beautiful wives, or women who marry
handsome men.
We can get caught into the trap of thinking, “I wish I could be like that”.
The Psalmist tells us that the person we ought to envy has things he
doesn’t do, and things he does.
He doesn’t spend his time being influenced by ungodly people.
Instead he delights in God’s word every day.
:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord
delight – chephets – delight, pleasure.
This is a word that carries the idea of emotions. To experience emotional
delight.
A blessed person is one who finds great pleasure in God’s Word.
Lesson
The pleasure of God’s Word
Take a minute to think about the kinds of things you take “delight”
in. If you had a few minutes, an hour,
or a day to do whatever you wanted, what would you do?
Be honest. Would it be Jamocha Almond Fudge at Baskin Robbins? A trip to
Disneyland with your granddaughter? (we’re eating a chocolate muffin together)
The “blessed” man takes delight in the time he spends in God’s Word.
My goal isn’t to make you take less “delight” in the things you like. My goal is to get us thinking about what it
would take to “delight” in God’s Word.
One of the reasons we struggle with delighting in God’s Word is because we
don’t recognize the treasure in God’s Word:
(Psalm 19:7–8 NKJV)
—7 The law of the Lord is
perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord
is sure, making wise the simple; 8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart; The
commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes;
That’s some pretty serious
treasure.
Another reason we struggle with delighting in God’s Word is because we’ve
forgotten just what it is. Love letters
from a distant land.
Illustration
A childhood accident caused poet Elizabeth Barrett to lead
a life of semi-invalidism before she married Robert Browning in 1846. There’s
more to the story. In her youth,
Elizabeth had been watched over by her tyrannical father. When she and Robert were married, their
wedding was held in secret because of her father’s disapproval. After the
wedding the Brownings sailed for Italy, where they
lived for the rest of their lives. But
even though her parents had disowned her, Elizabeth never gave up on the relationship. Almost weekly she wrote them letters. Not once did they reply. After 10 years, she received a large box in
the mail. Inside, Elizabeth found all of her letters; not one had been opened! Today those letters are among the most
beautiful in classical English literature.
Had her parents only read a few of them, their relationship with
Elizabeth might have been restored.
In a very real sense, God's Word is his love letter to us. Nothing has the power to free us from
destructive behavior and revitalize our relationship with Him like His Word.
:2 in His law he meditates day and night
If we delight in God’s Word, then we need to learn to meditate on it.
When we talk about meditating on God’s Word, be careful that you don’t
think I’m talking about some sort of eastern meditation as we focus on our
belly button, cross our legs, and say “ohmmmmmmm”. Not exactly.
By the way …
*** Did you hear about the
Buddhist who refused his dentist’s Novocain during root canal work? He wanted to transcend dental medication.
meditate – hagah – to moan, growl, utter, muse, mutter,
meditate.
The word apparently carries the picture of a person walking around
muttering ideas to himself.
Lesson
Chew on the Word
We have a word in the English language, “ruminate”.
The definition is: to chew
repeatedly for an extended period; to go over in the mind repeatedly and often
casually or slowly.
That’s how a cow eats.
They have four chambers in their stomach, and in a sense
they “chew” the same food over and over again, causing
the nutrients to break down and be absorbed into their system.
I think we ought to consider putting some of God’s Word into our system
every day and “chewing” on it during the day.
Illustration
H.P. Barker writes, “As I looked out into the garden one day, I saw three
things.
First, I saw a butterfly. The
butterfly was beautiful, and it would alight on a
flower and then it would flutter to another flower and then to another, and
only for a second or two it would sit and it would move on. It would touch as many lovely blossoms as it could, but derived absolutely no benefit from it.
Then I watched a little longer out my window and there came a botanist. And
the botanist had a big notebook under his arm and a great big magnifying
glass. The botanist would lean over a
certain flower and he would look for a long time and
then he would write notes in his notebook.
He was there for hours writing notes, closed them, stuck them under his
arm, tucked his magnifying glass in his pocket and walked away.
The third thing I noticed was a bee, just a little bee. But the bee would light on
a flower and it would sink down deep into the flower
and it would extract all the nectar and pollen that it could carry. It went in empty every time and came out
full.”
Are you a butterfly, botanist, or a bee in the garden of
God’s Word?
Sometimes we’re going too fast and making too much noise to really
understand what God is saying.
Illustration
From Mrs. Lettie Cowman’s book, Springs
in the Valley (pp. 196-197):
In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveler was making a
long trek. Coolies had been engaged from a tribe to carry the loads. The first
day they marched rapidly and went far.
The traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey. But the second morning these jungle tribesmen
refused to move. For some strange reason
they just sat and rested. On inquiry as to the reason for this strange
behavior, the traveler was informed that they had gone too fast the first day,
and that they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies.
Then Mrs. Cowman concludes with this penetrating exhortation:
This whirling rushing life which so many of us live does
for us what that first march did for those jungle tribesmen. The difference:
they knew what they needed to restore life’s balance; too often we do not.
Slow down and meditate on God’s Word.
When you read God’s Word each day – make sure you find something to
“meditate” on. Find some principle, some
verse, some promise, something to chew on as you go through your day.
Make God’s Word the foundation of how you start each day.
:3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall
prosper.
:3 a tree Planted by the rivers of water
Here’s what happens to this person we want to “envy”.
Israel is a desert. In ancient days
before irrigation, most crops were watered by the seasonal rains.
But if you lived near the Jordan River, or one of the tributaries coming
from the hills, then your tree didn’t have to depend upon the rain coming or
not coming.
:3 brings forth its fruit in its season
Fruit is a result, a byproduct.
It’s what a tree or a vine produces.
In a believer’s life, fruit might include the “fruit of the Spirit”
(Galatians 5:22–23
NKJV) —22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.
For a Christian, it may be the fruit of leading another person to the
Lord. Jesus said,
(John 15:8 NKJV) By this My
Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you
will be My disciples.
It simply may be the results of a work that God has been leading you to do.
Note: Fruit is seasonal.
Fruit doesn’t grow on trees all year long. But when it’s fruit season, a
good tree produces good fruit.
We too will have times when we are “out of season”. We aren’t going to bear
bucket loads of fruit every day.
But there will be times when fruit is “in season”, and that’s when the
payoff comes for the person who has invested his time into God’s Word.
For example, when someone hurts your feelings, it’s the “season” to
forgive. Can you?
All these things are part of the blessings that come from God’s word.
I hope that whets your appetite to be reading and meditating on God’s Word
every day.