Summary:
There are 3 phases to reading the Bible. (1) Medicinal: When we face problems, the word of God comforts our hearts. (2) Whole grains: We get ‘nutrients’ from the word, but we find it bland. If we are able to persevere, we would reach (3) Feast: Here, we find true satisfaction for our souls. It is important to meditate on the word of God. Meditate on it as a cow chews on cud. Think and rethink about the word we have read. How do we feel about a particular verse? Do we read it in context and think how we can apply it in our daily lives?

As Christians, the Bible is a book we would all read. It teaches us many things about life and gives us clear instructions about life and death.

Psa 119:140
Your word is very pure; Therefore Your servant loves it.

Because the words in the Bible come from God, they are pure.

How do we become a person who loves the Bible? What is stopping us from being someone who loves the Bible in modern society today? Why do we read the Bible when we have difficulties falling asleep (instead of watching TV)? When we don’t pay attention when we read the word of God, we feel more tired the more we read it. But when we love the Bible, we fall asleep reading it because it comforts us.

One reason we don’t love the Bible is because we don’t find it tasteful/attractive. We can be entertained for hours by materials online. In the age where the internet is booming, we’re entrapped in the World Wide Web. There isn’t an issue with the Bible, but with us. When we watch video or read materials online, we feel satisfied. But a lot of it is trash/junk food. When young, parents told us not to eat junk food because it would spoil our appetite for the main meals. However, we like to eat junk food. We know it’s not nutritious for our body, but that’s what we want to eat.

What’s our attitude towards the Bible? The entertainment online is a good distressing method. But spiritually, it’s junk food. It cannot help us to grow spiritually. The more we eat of it, the more addicting it becomes. It’s only when we come back to read the Bible, the best gift God has given to men, that our souls will be more nourished.

There are 3 phases to reading the Bible:

1. Medicinal
2. Whole grains
3. Feast

When we start to read the Bible, it’ll start off at the medicinal phase. When we face problems, we start to read the Bible. As we read, the word comforts our hearts, so we find it apt.

Then we proceed to the whole grain phase. No one likes to eat medicine that’s bitter anyway. We find the whole grain phase is bland. We try to add fruits and milk for flavour. We find the Bible a book full of words that we don’t comprehend; we find it dry and tasteless. Maybe we get some nutrients. If we remain in the second phase, many of us would give up reading the Bible.

But if we’re able to persevere through the first and second phase, we’d be able to reach the third phase - the feast. We would be able to find satisfaction for our soul. But we would need to persevere; this would require effort.

Psa 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, arranged according to the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and so there are 22 subsections. Each subsection contains 8 verses; there are 176 verses in total.

The 13th Hebrew alphabet will be focused on in this sermon.

Psa 119:97-104
Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. I have not departed from Your judgments, For You Yourself have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.

Do we find the psalmist is a person who truly loves the word of God? He portrayed the word of God to hold a unique place in his heart.

The psalmist uses the following words as synonyms for the word of God: law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commands, judgement, word, promise.

Why did the psalmist love the Bible? When he read the word of God and saw the creation of the Lord, he realised God is the Creator. Looking at creation reminds us of the Creator. This allows us to treat the word of God as precious. The psalmist loves the word of God because he knows the author is God.

2 Tim 3:16-17
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The author of the Bible is God Himself. He moved 40 over different people in history to write His word. Because He’s the author, there is no contradiction in the writing of the 40+ authors.

Psa 119:97
Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Do we have anything in our lives we constantly think about? The word ‘mediate’ is used several times; it is mentioned in Psa 1:2, 19:4, 49:3, 63:6, 119:78. Why is the psalmist constantly meditating on the word of God? Because he recognises God is the author. Hence he wants to think about God’s words.

What does meditation mean? It means his mind is constantly thinking and rethinking about God’s word. The word of God doesn’t just pass by him once. He digests the word of God and thinks what God is trying to tell him through these words. Meditate means to ‘chew the cud’. When we read a phrase in the Bible, how do we feel about a particular verse? Do we read it in context and think how we can apply it in our daily lives? A person who merely reads the Bible without meditating on it is just like a person swallowing food without chewing. This is not good for the body. The speaker has the habit of swallowing his food without much chewing. With age, he started to get stomach pains. This is a habit he needs to change. The conventional advice is to chew 20 times before swallowing food. This also allows us to taste the food more. Let’s apply this principle of eating to reading the word of God. Perhaps when we first read it, we don’t understand it. But when we read it another time, we mag feel differently about it. After all, the Bible is the word of God which is life. It is able to bring us joy. But are we willing to revisit that thought; to meditate on it; to chew the cud? This action allows us to be greatly edified. When we are facing difficulties, the Bible verse we meditated on can be easily recalled to comfort us.

A testimony:
A sister shared that when services went online due to COVID-19, as she knelt down to pray before service, the word ‘Jesus’ appeared in her mind. When she saw this, she felt at peace and very attached to the word. It was difficult for her to describe the closeness and attachment she felt to the word ‘Jesus’ that she saw. During the service, the speaker quoted Heb 13:8. Besides reading this verse, she continued reading on.

Heb 13:8-9
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.

As she read v9 “it is good that the heart be established by grace”, it touched her. The bitterness that had been in her heart for a long period of time seemed to dissipate; her heart opened, and peace and joy entered her heart. She came to understand how wonderful the Bible was. It worked on an aching heart and awakened it. It was through prayer and the reading of God’s words, God allowed her to experience the word of God to be true and living.

God’s word is true and is life. But it requires us to read them! We can’t leave our Bibles on the shelf. It requires us to commit time to read His words. Are we willing to let go of the entertainment we have online, reprioritise, and read the Bible? Why not give yourself the chance? As we read, meditate on it. If we don’t understand, we can also pray about it to ask God to help us to understand His words. It would be good to pray before reading the Bible to ask for God’s guidance.

Psa 119
v98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me.

The word of God makes us wise. Why do we need wisdom? It helps us to make the correct decision in life.

v99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation.

For the word of God to enter our hearts, we need to constantly meditate on it. When we do, we come to understand the will of God better; we gain wisdom; we make the right decisions in our life of faith.

v100 I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep Your precepts.

Because he obtained the wisdom that comes from God, he was willing to keep/obey God’s precepts. We find obeying God’s words to be a chore; it’s tiring to do. Because we know God is merciful, we start to make excuses that it’s okay if we fail to obey.

v101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word.

But the psalmist said he was unwilling to walk on the evil way. The word of God enabled him to obtain wisdom, and this wisdom enabled him to keep the word of God. Through the learning of the word of God, his relationship with God became better; he grew to love God even more. As we read the word of God today, can we learn from this psalmist? That the more we read the word of God, the more we want to obey His word.

v104 Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.

The psalmist made a choice, and he based this choice on God’s precepts. Because he meditated on the word of God, he gained wisdom. Because he gained wisdom, he knew he had to keep the word of God. Because he kept the word of God, he loved God even more. Because he loved God more, he was unwilling to let God down by his actions. Because of this, every action he took was to please God.

1 John 2:5
But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

How much do we love God today? A person who truly loves God would keep His words, and God’s words would become his principle in life; it would become integral part of his life. If God’s word is an integral part of your life, we would have no problem reading the Bible. The more we read, the more we experience His words and gain wisdom and make the right decisions.

When we read the Bible today and feel it tastes bland, it’s because we haven’t put in the effort to really read it. Give ourselves a chance. If we were to read 1 chapter a day, we would be able to finish the Bible in 3 years and 3 months. 3 chapters, 1 year. 10 chapters, 3 months. The choice is in our hands.

Consider the following acronyms for the BIBLE:
Best Instruction Before Leaving Earth
Best Investment Before Leaving Earth
Basic Instruction Before Life Ends

What is the Bible to you?

Psa 119:103-104
How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.

Do we feel the same as we read the Bible?