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“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

 

INTRO

When I look at Jesus life, I see the earliest examples of Him showed a young man devoted to Scripture, seeking to know and understand it, and using God's Word powerfully.  He born like the rest of us - with no knowledge of the Bible.  He had to work to learn it.  When He was 12, He was meditating on it, thinking of questions to ask teachers about so He could understand it (Luke 2:46).  See how passionate He was for the Scriptures, and even before He started His ministry, He fought off the devil himself in the hardest temptations of His life to that point with only Scripture (Matthew 4:3-10).  The Bible says that Scripture is our sword, our primary spiritual weapon (Eph 6:17). I see from Jesus' life that if I want to have a strength in this life to stand through anything, and if I love the Lord and want to produce something of value for God with this one life for the Lord (and not produce a life that will be burned up - like wood, hay, or straw - 1 Corinthians 3:12-15), I need to have a passion and deep value of God’s Word.

 

1 Peter 2:2 "...like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord."

 

A STRENGTH

In Leviticus 11:3 it says that animals that "chew the cud" are clean.  What is Cud?  Cud is partially digested food.  Cows eat, digest, regurgitate the food back up, then chew their food again.  This allows cows to get the most complete nutrition out of the grass.  Humans can't eat grass.  Cows can.  Cows graze the grass, eat, chew, digest, regurgitate, chew again, digest again. And they live off of it.  And in the Old Testament they were called clean animals.  It blessed me to think that, just as a cow spends time in grass grazing and very, very thoroughly chewing and digesting their food, and it is considered clean; it will be strength to me to stay clean if I'm consistently hungry for God’s Word and devote time to spend with God and hear from Him through it, and go 'deep' in it, meditating on it and 'eating' it to the point of obeying and practicing it.

 

Cows are not the smartest animals, or the most exciting.  But they are clean, and they strong.  It's not the intellectual ones who can get life from the Bible, or the ones who can produce new clever and exciting truths that will be strong and clean.  It's the ones who with a pure heart value God's Word enough give themselves to it consistently, and to put the time into 'eating' the Word, consistently - and obeying what the Lord is speaking to them through it, purifying themselves.  Those will be the believers who are 'clean' (cleansing themselves). And they will be spiritually strong, able to stand in the strength of the Lord in the midst of temptations, and trials, perplexities, confusion, unknowns, disappointments, and suffering.  They will be the ones who know God, (because they listen to Him constantly) and will be strong (Daniel 11:32). They desire to go deep in God's Word.  The meat and best nutrition of a soup is not found by skimming the surface, but by digging deep down.  Gold is not found on the surface on the ground, you have to dig.  The same is true of God's Word.  If we value it, to get the best 'spiritual nutrition', we will have a passion to go deep in it.

 

I heard a quote: “A Bible falling apart is owned by someone who’s not falling apart.”  Someone who is diligent with the Word will have a Bible that’s falling apart on the outside, but their own inner life will not be falling apart. This of course only applies to this who seek to find God Himself through the Word, and obey what God is speaking (Matt 7:24). It doesn’t apply to anyone who aims to just learn it for the sake of knowing it, in an intellectual way.

 

One thing that has immensely helped me in my time in the Word is this: before I start reading, say to the Lord, "Father, please speak to me, something which I need to hear.  And to have time with you."  To recognize beforehand that I'm seeking the Lord Himself (and not knowledge itself), and trying to hear what He's speaking to me personally (and not someone else, reading only to prepare messages or something), the Lord really makes the time in the Scripture rich.  I often read for a little time and then a verse pops out to me, and I realize, "The Lord is speaking this directly to me right now!"

 

HUNGER

I'm trying to learn not to be so caught up with life-logistics, and be more of a listener.  Martha was hungry for food, and to fulfill her busy obligations.  But Mary was hungry to hear from Jesus.

 

"Oh.. Martha Martha, you were worried about so many things... but only one thing is necessary"  (Luke 10:41-42 Paraphrased)

 

It's less a matter of length or logistics of how we read, and more a matter of HUNGER.  The Lord knows who really hunger for His Word. And those are the ones who grow, longing for the “...pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, ” (1 Peter 2:2).  Those who hunger are listeners.  Perhaps we hear the Lord primarily when reading the Bible, but also if we are hungry we will be eager to hear from God through other things: like good teaching and messages in the church meetings, through brothers and sisters in Christ sharing things, or through conversations with them, and even seeing God in little circumstances and examples through the day.  Jesus often shared His parables based on day to day things He saw in life (farming, workers, plants, etc).  He was so hungry to hear from God that He saw God and heard God speaking in everything!  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt 5:8).  We can see God wherever we look, and we'll see that He's always present with us, and we'll hear from Him more and more often.

 

Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4) "but by every word that is proceedING from the mouth of God" (the literal word there has the continuous tense of 'proceed' : 'proceedING').

 

God is always speaking.  When I learned that God is constantly wanting to speak life-giving Words of power for every situation that are personal to me, it helped me tremendously to value His Word more.  It's targeted, and personal, and just what I need, to be convicted, comforted, challenged, encouraged, corrected, etc.  That's what it means when Heb 4:12 says "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."  It's a "living" Word.  "Living" means it can target exactly what I need right now, not to give me "soul-help" (make me feel better in my emotions, or to stimulate my mind), but to target my spirit - in my heart to change, to crucify my self-will, to be strong, more Christ-like, more surrendered, more of Christ and less of me.

 

HEARING FROM GOD DIRECTLY

AI (Artificial Intelligence) and things like ChatGPT can give you dozens of verses for any problem - instantly, if you ask it for related verses.  But AI can never hear from God what He is speaking.  Only a Christian can, who has the Holy Spirit.  We don't need just "any related verse" when we come to a temptation to sin, or a perplexing situation, we need to hear from God - the RIGHT Word from Him.  It's like the difference between a tennis player having an issue with his serve, and someone says "Here's a 200 page tennis book about how to serve, read that", versus an expert coach who takes one look and can immediately tell him what's wrong, what he needs to correct, and why.  He knows what injury will come if this player keeps serving this way, and how he will lose many games because of that one thing.  It's like that.  There's a proceedING Word from God's mouth that we need to hear for every spiritual need. It's perfect, and targeted, and nobody but the Holy Spirit can speak it.  And when we have a Word from Him (many times coming in the form of a specific verse, or truth), we'll "just know" this was from Him, and it was Him guiding us. And when we get that Word from Him, the peace comes.

 

I once heard someone say; "When God speaks, that settles it." And I've seen in my life, that's so true.  Things just get settled when He speaks, regardless of what's going on in the situation.  The storm in the situation may not be calmed yet, but the storm inside of me can be calmed immediately!

 

Too often, I've longed for solutions and fixing circumstances as answers to my prayer.  I've learned, I need to be longing more for Words from Him as an answer to my prayer.  And for that, I need a value and dedication to consistently seek God in His Word, and to hear directly from Him to my heart.

 

AN ILLUSTRATION - GOD'S WORD GIVES US HOPE WHICH DRIVES US TO PRESS ON

Imagine a prisoner who’s been imprisoned for life for some crime.  If some stranger came to him with a load of books in some subject he was not intested in, and said "study and learn all this, it'll help you", what would he say? The prisoner would say, “no thanks, I'm not interested, I don't need help in anything - I'm stuck here in prison the rest of my life.”  If there’s no desire or hope, or no recognition of need, there’s no hunger.  But now imagine this: the stranger that came to visit this prisoner was a very good lawyer.  And the books he gave him to read were books on law.  And along with giving him that, this lawyer says to the prisoner, "you can get a re-trial and you can be released and free from this prison with newfound evidence and principles from these law books, if you devote themself to it completely and prepare yourself for exactly one year to re-present your case to the judge."  Imagine that prisoner now.  See how he INSTANTLY changes! See how his attitude and joy changes!  Hope and belief and need (the need to be free) immediately produce hunger to diligently absorb themself in those law books.  He would be not only excited to read them, he would be desperate to!

 

If we are not needy, or we don't believe - we will not be hungry for God's Word.  But if we see that we have a need in so many things, and we have hope in the Lord that we can be free and overcome, and a desire for Him and to please Him, then we will be eager to seek Him and hear from Him.  If we are tired - not of circumstances and other people, but tired of ourselves - that's when we have the real hunger.  It's not "Lord change this person" or "change this situation", it's more of "Lord change me."  "Deliver me from fear!  Deliver me from sin, from doubt, from fear of man, from dull devotion, from bad moods, all these things that dishonor you!"

 

“The hungry (for righteousness) will be filled” Matt 5:6

 

The key is need. But not just need - faith too.

 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Over and over, I've seen in my own life: I’ll hit a temptation to sin, or a trial, some major confusion about some decision, and I’ll ask the Lord for help. For external trials, most of the time the situation doesn’t end right away. Instead, God strengthens me, usually through a verse, a specific word.  Here is just a single example: 

One time there was a season where I struggled with job comparison, comparing my career to what it "could have been" if I chose a different route.  Should I have gone further in my education?  Did I miss chances from better jobs and companies because of carelessness?  It's not that I felt I missed God's leading.  It's just that covetousness and comparison were tempting me to be discontent.  Then, exactly at that time - I read the verse, “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God. ” (Psalm 20:7). That verse immediately gave me so much peace and contentment, and freed me from that whole big inner struggle.  Not only that, but that one Word from God changed my desire.  It freed me from wrong desires for things I didn't have, and increased my desire for God.  I felt - I want to boast in my relationship with God!  If others have a main ambition to be so successful in career, they can do that, that's ok.  The world can strive to be successful, but as a disciple I want to be an expert in "knowing God!"  That's the eternally valuable expertise to gain.  I want my boast to be in God alone.  Can I enter eternity with my boast in nothing outside of Christ? That revelation, that word, that peace, that joy - that all came from one verse.  But if I hadn't been listening to God that day (neglecting the Word, not wanting to spend time with God), I wouldn't have received it.  It came straight from God, from Scripture, to my heart at the right time.  This experience (receiving the right word from God) isn’t rare for me, and I don't believe it's rare for those who hunger for it.  God often talks to me and guides me, and lifts me exactly like this - through one single word.  How do I know which verse or which word is the right one?  I don't really know how to explain how to know, except the Holy Spirit puts a stop sign there and says, “this is it.” Then the peace comes.  I think that's the best I can describe it.  And I know this is the experience of every Christian who has the Holy Spirit and ears to hear, and can be yours, if it isn't already.

 

THE HOLY SPIRIT / SOWING SEEDS

The Bible says The Holy Spirit will bring things to remembrance when we need them (John 14:26). He’s powerful to bring life to us through Words, but He doesn't create things out of thin air.   He works with seed that’s been sown, and that seed is the Word (Mark 4:14). He can't bring to remembrance Scripture that hasn’t been sown into us.  If we’re faithful to sow today and be hungry to hear, God can bring growth tomorrow. 

 

“The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.” Be faithful to sow the Word into your heart now by reading and listening, and the Holy Spirit can bring it to your remembrance later when you need it (during 'war') to provide exactly the strength you need to overcome, and be strong.

 

ONE STEP AT A TIME - LIKE GPS

It also helps me to remember, as situations constantly come up, God will give a Word and that Word will be just what's needed for now.  Another will come later.  It's like GPS - I need to follow it, and then keep listening, and following.  One step at a time.  What is God's will when He speaks His Word to us?  Follow it /Obey it, trusting God, without fear of the future, one step at a time:

 

Isaiah 30:21 "Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left."

 

CONCLUSION

Brother or sister, God can and wants to speak to you very specifically, powerful life-changing words exactly for your need - and He will speak that to those with ears to listen.  Many times I've seen that what I need right now isn't for God to work out a circumstance yet, but what I need right now is to hear a Word from Him - not just about circumstances, but about myself, and what I need to change.  I've seen in my own life, when I don’t get a Word it could be because I’m not hungry for it, or I've already made up my own mind that I know better (leaning on my own reasoning so I feel I don't need a word), or I'm so singularly focused on getting what I want that I'm not hearing from God what He Himself wants. The more self-focused I am (my will, my plans, my trials, my feelings, my situation), the less I will hear from God. 

 

What if I've judged myself in that but I'm still not hearing a Word?  He's always speaking (Matthew 4:4 - "proceedING" Word), keep seeking and praying until you can hear it.  It may be a while until God works out circumstances, but I believe it won't be long at all until He gives a Word.  Even in silence, God can still speak.  He may simply be saying, "Endure. Be patient."

 

Isaiah 40:31 "... those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary."