Eating God's Word

I've been reading a new book the past few days from Joshua Harris called Dug Down Deep. So far, it's pretty good.  I found one part pretty interesting when he was talking about the Bible:

"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.  Hes 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."

I definitely feel like I can relate to the author.  In fact, I was even taking the metaphor in a different direction in my own mind while reading.  I was thinking back to when I was a child.  I remember back in those days, oh so long ago (in the early 90s)--back when kids didn't even have cell phones--anyways, we used to sit at the table as a family and eat dinner.  The t.v. was off, we didn't have portable game systems to get in the way (not that they didn't exist, we just didn't have them-thanks mom and dad! Just kidding), and we talked about how our days went.  There were many of these times where my mom would make corn as a vegetable and I literally wasn't allowed up from the table until I ate it all.  And let me say this before I get judged for being a picky eater..okay, no excuses, I was and still am a picky eater.  But, I HATED corn back then.  I would rather have eaten moth balls.

Looking back, I wonder how I could think corn to be so terrible.  It's still by far not my favorite thing in the world to eat as I am kind of a junk food addict, but now it probably tops as one of my favorite vegetables.  Somehow, over time, my taste buds changed and became more than tolerant, but actually started to enjoy the taste.  The same thing goes for cinnamon rolls and fruit smoothies.  There are certain foods that have grown into more enjoyable tastes over time.

This analogy is a little broken in the sense that I have never hated God's Word.  I've always had a love and reverence for it.  But, especially as a child and even teenager, God's Word wasn't as enjoyable to me.  It didn't quite ring the same.  It didn't fulfill me like I get fulfillment now.  Again, I relate to the author as well in that there are times now where I only nibble or don't feel as hungry for it as I truly would like to be.  But, my desire for His Word grows more over time.  It seems as though the more I mature, the more God's Word fulfills me in more satisfying ways.  I think part of it is probably the fact that I read slower, study more, and dig deeper into meaning.  But, more than that, connecting with truths God is trying to reveal to me makes it better.  I only hope that this desire grows more and gives me motivation to read and seek much more than I do now.