Saturated by the Word
Spanish tapas, sushi, Indian dishes, pastas or a nice piece of good meat… I love it. Or cheese, any cheese, it doesn’t matter what kind, shape or origin; I’m crazy about it, LOL. In the natural we can eat and eat whatever we want, at least when we are blessed to live in a land where there is an abundance of good, healthy and delicious food. We eat whenever we want, when we are hungry, but also when we are not hungry or even when we are bored 😉. It satisfies us temporarily, temporarily…because in no time we can be craving something else delicious. The Word of God, on the other hand, satisfies in a way that food never can. It is spiritual food. Yet, I have learned that I am responsible for creating a hunger for God’s Word. The Bible as decoration In the beginning of my walk with the Lord, I often found it difficult to read the Bible. At that time it was nothing more than a thick book of which I had no idea where to start reading. Do you ‘just’ start at the beginning? Pretty tough stuff, that Old Testament, and I quickly dropped out because of it. The Gospels were easier to read, but as of, yet I didn’t get much out of them, and it felt more like an obligation which resulted in them becoming harder and harder to read. And so the Bible sat on my nightstand most of the time as a home decoration #sad. Until I got sick….. In September 2021, I woke up one morning with a strange muscle ache in my right forearm. I thought, “I must have been lying on it or something,” got dressed and went to work. When I still had pain in my arm three weeks later, I thought, “I better go to the doctor.” The doctor referred me to the physiotherapist. I received treatment after treatment and every few weeks I had an appointment with the company doctor, this good man added two weeks, three weeks or six weeks to my sick leave after each visit. And so months passed. I knew that God heals! And that through the sacrifice of Jesus healing has already been brought to us (Isaiah 53:4-5) and since God does not change (Hebrews 13:8), it should still be available today. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” – Hebrews 13:8 And so I began to delve into the Word to see what God says on the subject of healing. And here also arose the hunger for God’s Word. For hours, weeks, months I devoured the Bible on the subject of healing. I underlined, read, meditated, watched sermons online with the Bible next to me, and read various books with the Bible next to them. Finally, after 8 months, all that teaching sank from my head to my heart, I had a revelation and received healing (see also my testimony about this in my previous blog: “God’s Supernatural Healing Power” Your responsibility! Through this whole journey I developed a hunger for the Word and reading the Bible suddenly became fun! Every verse or book I read gave me revelations, touched me, or God spoke through the texts. Yet, since then, there have still been times when consistent Bible reading has been forgotten. The hustle and bustle of everyday life took over, and before I knew it, I hadn’t opened my Bible for days. For us Christians, reading God’s Word is a daily necessity. Jesus already said it: we cannot live by bread alone (Matthew 4:4). Just as we need physical food for our physical bodies, we also need spiritual food for our spirit man. We need it to renew our minds (Romans 12:2) and as a guide through this life, but we do have our own responsibility to pick up our Bibles and get started. “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” – Matthew 4:4 God will not force us to read His Word. As with everything, we will have to make conscious choices and steps to pick this up and start reading. Get started! I want to encourage you; see what time of day it is possible for you to set aside time to read the Word, and it doesn’t have to be hours. Just start with 10 minutes, or a few verses. Buy a daily journal where you read a short devotional with additional Bible verses, my favorite is for example “Ik ben altijd bij je” (I am always with you) – Sarah Young or her English version “Jesus Calling”. Ask God which book of the Bible you should start with, and read a few verses from it every day. Before you begin to read, ask God to help you understand what you are reading, to give you more wisdom and revelation so that you will know Him better (Ephesians 1:17). “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” – Ephesians 1:17 You got this!