Charles Spurgeon once said, “A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” That’s a reminder that the Bible has the power to make a difference in our life. When we go beyond just getting into the Bible, but we also let the Bible get into us, we receive the benefits it has to offer. Psalm 119:98-100 reminds us of a few of those benefits.
98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. -Psalm 119:98-100, ESV
It’s good to read the Bible but God wants each of us to dig deeper. The psalmist reminds us of three ways we can go deeper with God’s word and the benefits they bring. We can memorize it, meditate on it, and obey it. There is a lot of growth that happens in our life when we begin to do these three things. As a matter of fact, these practices can take us beyond the understanding of our enemies, our teachers, and the aged.
Enemies are those people that devise our demise and bring us problems. Teachers are those that have gained understanding through study. The aged are those that have gained understanding through life experience. Consider what the psalmist is saying. When God’s Word is always with you because you have memorized it, you will have the wisdom to handle problem people. When you mediate on God’s Word there is an understanding you receive that even some teachers have not attained. When you obey God’s Word there is truth you learn by experience that even some who have lived more years than you don’t understand.
Why does that happen? It is because we have given God more time and space to teach us. When God is our teacher and the Bible our is textbook, we are bound to grow. Don’t just settle for reading God’s Word. Go deeper today. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Obey it.