JOB 23:12 – I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

THEME OF THE DAY. ARE WE HUNGRY FOR GOD’S WORD? Today’s scripture is one of those, “Is it I, Lord?” type. It is short but contains a powerful truth digging deep down into our souls. The obvious application is our hunger for the Word of God. In Job’s case, this man cherished the Word of God so much that he would miss meals for it. He represents the healthy believer who really believes what Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). And I think Job’s example needs to be placed before us as individuals and churches. Do we hunger for the Word of God? Is it so precious to us that we will not go a day without “eating” of its life giving substance? Have we come to the point in our Christian lives and churches that the Word of God is the chief thing in all we do?

There are many ways we may check ourselves when it comes to our love for and commitment to the Scriptures, but none will be more revealing than the time we give to be in our Bibles both privately and in our churches. Today, I want us to consider the place of Scripture in our churches. Is it central? Are the preaching and public reading of the Word the chief elements getting the most of the time in our services? I believe we are seeing alarming things in our western Christian culture that is reducing the preaching and public reading of the Word down to just other elements in our services. Part of the reason is our fast-paced, mindless culture with little attention span among us that produces an attitude to get things done quickly to include our worship services. How different in what we read in revival history and what happened with God’s people under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah found in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah chapter eight.

“And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. 2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose” (Nehemiah 8:1-4). Ezra read the Word of God to His people, not for a few minutes but from day-break to noon; a period of at least six hours. Wow!

Did we catch what happened? The Word of God was read to the people, not for a few minutes, but upwards to six hours! This was not one of those “quick drive-through, get it out of the way” type of service. Sadly, this type of mentality does occur in our Christian culture. Churches even boast of brevity and convenience when it comes to worship and the Word. Shorter is better. Less is best. A quick hour on an earlier Sunday morning and off we go to enjoy the pleasures of the world. Now don’t misunderstand me. Length doesn’t always mean quality. Quantity and quality are not an inseparable couple. However, and think with me on this. Is it really possible to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, deepen our understanding of the great doctrines of the faith like justification by faith, the atoning work of Christ, and the glorious Trinity if we try to keep our worship services within one hour, have four or five songs, some announcements, maybe a solo or other element, and only leave maybe twenty minutes or so for the exposition of God’s Word to feed His people? I don’t think so, but the real question is not length, but our appetite for the Word. If it were announced in our churches that next week, we are going to gather from 10:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m. to hear the Word of God read aloud, how many of us would be looking with anticipation to that day? God’s people of old revealed such a hunger. May God give us an intense hunger too for His Word. After all, it is how He has chosen for us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to hunger for Your Word more than my necessary food.”

QUOTE: “A hunger for the scriptures is a hunger for Christ. No appetite for the Bible means no appetite for Christ.”