Desperate for God's Word
When Andrew was first placed in prison, they didn’t let him keep his Bible. This was devastating to him because his life was very much wrapped around reading God’s Word.
In fact, Andrew holds a PhD in the New Testament, and so he knows his Bible quite well—and yet he still wanted to have it with him. But he couldn’t. He had to call to mind verses and truths that he knew from the Bible from memory.
The Power of Scripture Memory
This reminded me again of the importance of knowing verses, memorizing verses, and hiding God’s Word in my heart so that if I ever get into a place where I can’t access it, I can still access it from memory.
Later on, they allowed Andrew to have his Bible, and he would spend hours pouring over the Psalms and the New Testament—reading and reading, just drinking in God’s Word.
Later, after he was released, he even said that there was a part of him that kind of missed the closeness he had with God in those times—when he could spend long hours just praying and reading his Bible.
Desperate for the Word
And so how about you and I today? Are we that desperate for the Word of God?
Or is the Bible kind of an option for the day—you know, we’ll read it if we feel like it, but if not, we’ll survive?
I hope that you and I can be people who are deeply dedicated to the Word of God.
Meditate Day and Night
In fact, one of my favorite verses comes from Joshua 1:8, where God gives Joshua this charge before he goes to lead the Israelite people into the Promised Land: “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.”
This is the life of the godly—His Book always on our lips and always in our hearts as we meditate on it so that we can obey it carefully.
So read His Word today and every day, friends, and may you meet God in a special way as you do.
