Joshua Harris is not only a dating-love-relationship writer. He is a serious student of the Bible and he loves Theology. I recommend you his latest book “Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters” (Colorado: Multnomah Books, 2010). Below are long passages of his writing taken from this book… I quote him without permission. This is wrong. P.s: Would you defend me Pastor Harris if the publisher sues me? Mercy.
Eating God’s Word. It’s an odd picture. Yet that’s what the prophet Jeremiah describes when he says to God, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16).
When I read these words, I imagine someone tearing out the crinkly, tissue-thin pages of a Bible and stuffing them in his mouth. Of course I know Jeremiah is speaking metaphorically. He’s describing his wholehearted embrace of God’s Word. We should have the same appetite.
That’s how I want to be. But I still have a long way to go. I do love God’s Word. I’ve tasted that it’s good. But sometimes I only nibble on it. Sometimes I don’t feel like eating at all. I want to delight in it the way Jeremiah describes. I want to be hungrier than I am.
Jeremiah’s example is inspiring. He feeds on God’s Word. He wants its truth and life in him. It is his joy. It is his delight. And if we didn’t look more closely, we could assume that Jeremiah couldn’t relate to the apathy and spiritual dryness that we lesser mortals experience. But when we read Jeremiah’s story and the context of his statement of delighting in God’s Word, we make an interesting discovery. Jeremiah is in the midst of dark depression and anguished complaint. He is so discouraged, so disheartened, that he wishes he had never been born (Jeremiah 15:10). He lists all the ways he has suffered as a result of speaking God’s truth. Jeremiah 15:17-18 says,
“I did not sit in the company of revelers,
nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
for you had filled me with indignation.
Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me like a deceitful brook,
like waters that fail?”
It turns out that Jeremiah’s spiritual life isn’t one mountaintop experience after another. Instead, he’s often discouraged and depressed. He’s tempted to question God’s goodness. At this low moment of his life, he is more aware of what he’s done for God than he is of what God had done for him.
This sounds terrible, but, honestly, it encourages me. It tells me that God’s Word meets us where we are. It meets us in the midst of doubt. It speaks to us in the midst of spiritual struggle. Maybe that’s where you are. The teaching of a college professor has you feeling like a fool for trusting in an “outdated, flawed book”. Or maybe you’re just tired. Reading the Bibles feels like an empty exercise.
God can meet you and me in these moments of life. The Bible isn’t just for people who feel strong. I’m grateful we don’t have to lead perfect lives to read God’s perfect Word. Jeremiah’s life teaches us this. Jeremiah suffered. He was discouraged. God’s Word isn’t just for the happy people of the world. We can find joy in God’s Word and the trustworthiness of His promises even when we lack joy in our hearts.
Sometimes we have to work to find delight in God’s Word. Jeremiah said that when he ate God’s words, they became joy. They don’t become a joy sitting on a shelf. We have to taste and receive them. The fact that this requires effort shouldn’t discourage us. As we grow in our knowledge of how trustworthy and powerful Scripture is, our love for it will increase… God understand our weakness, but He doesn’t make allowance for distrust and disbelief. He gave Jeremiah this wonderful promise: “I am with you to save you and deliver you” (Jeremiah 15:20). God saves. God delivers. It was true for Jeremiah. It was true for the people of Judah. It’s true for you and me. God alone can save [Richard Angelus continues: “and that rock-bed truth and assurance you can only find in God’s Eternal Word – the Bible by the illumination of the Holy Spirit”].
THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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