When Reading Isn’t Enough

There’s nothing as good as freshly prepared food, is there? Sometimes my wife doesn’t have everything on hand for what she wants to make, but she still can go into the kitchen, take all the ingredients, and make something fantastic.

That’s how it was with the manna God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness. They needed to prepare it. They didn’t just eat this manna; they made things with it.

It’s the same way with the Word of God. We need to read it, but then we must internalize it. Interestingly, we find this promise in the book of Revelation: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3 NKJV).

This is referring to the book of Revelation, but I think this promise also applies to the Bible in general. The person who reads, hears, and keeps the Word of God will experience blessings as a result.

It isn’t enough to simply read the Bible. We need to hear the Bible, and by that, I mean as Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 11:15 NKJV). You can read an entire chapter of the Bible without comprehension. That’s why we not only need to read God’s Word, but we need to hear it, think about it, internalize it, memorize it, and meditate on it.

The word “meditate” might bring to mind the Eastern form of meditation, but biblical meditation is different. In Eastern meditation, they try to empty their minds, but in biblical meditation, we’re filling our minds with the Word of God. There’s a significant difference.

We can find everything we need to know about God in the pages of Scripture. We can find everything we need to know about life there as well. So take time to read, hear, and keep God’s Word.