Tag: Read the word

  • Read the Word. Read the Word. Read the Word.

    a marked up well worn bible evidence of someone having read the Word over a long period

    People who know me have heard me say it more than once. Read the Word. Read the Word. Read the Word. I did not pick that phrase because it sounds nice said three times in a row, though it does. 

    I picked it because three things have to happen before Scripture actually does what it was given to do in your life, and missing any one of them will leave you short. 

    You have to read it. You have to come to know it. And you have to understand it. They are not the same thing, and you cannot skip ahead.

    Read the Word

    The first one is the simplest, and the one most easily skipped. You cannot know or understand a book you never open. That sounds obvious until you look honestly at how many weeks can pass between sitting down with it on purpose. 

    The blessed man is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night, like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding fruit in season (Psalm 1:2-3). 

    Notice that fruit follows meditation, not the other way around. Reading is not the finish line. It is the starting one, but you do not get to skip it.

    I have written a whole piece on why and how to actually build this habit, with a reading plan if you need somewhere to start. Why (and how) to read your Bible

    Know the Word

    Reading puts the words in front of you. Knowing is what happens when those words stop being unfamiliar, when you can recognize a passage before you finish the first line, when the story or the command or the promise has become part of how you think. But there is a trap here, and it is an old one. 

    The Pharisees of Jesus’ day knew the Scriptures forward and backward. 

    You search the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life, and it is these that testify about Me, and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life (John 5:39-40). 

    They knew the book and missed the Person the book was written to introduce them to.

    I have written before about that exact danger, knowing the Bible the way you know facts, without that knowledge ever becoming the faith it was meant to produce. 

    Knowing the Bible like the back of my hand

    Understand the Word

    Reading gets the words in front of you. Knowing gets them familiar. But understanding is the one piece you cannot manufacture by effort alone, no matter how disciplined you are or how many times you have read it through. 

    A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). 

    On the road, after the resurrection, Jesus did not just hand His disciples a clearer outline. He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). That opening is still His to give. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him (James 1:5). Understanding is asked for, not earned.

    So the next time you hear me say it, you will know I am not just repeating myself for effect. 

    Read the Word, because you cannot know or understand a book you never open. 

    Read the Word, until the words on the page become a Person you recognize rather than facts you have filed away. 

    Read the Word, and ask the Spirit to open what your own effort never could reach on its own. Three calls, not one repeated. 

    Together they are what carry you from the gospel you believe to the life you are meant to live.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

    Be blessed,

    Kevin

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  • Way of Wisdom – Discovering True Enlightenment

    Oasis secene - theme the way of wisdom - Psalm 1:4

    Wisdom is a prized commodity. People of all faiths and cultures have sought it throughout the ages. Where can it be found? What is the way of wisdom?

    The Bible is full of passages that teach the way of wisdom and righteousness. They both come from the LORD. The psalms open with a clear sample.

    How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the way of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of Yahweh,  And in His law he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,  Which yields its fruit in its season  And its leaf does not wither;  And in whatever he does, he prospers.  The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.  Therefore the wicked will not rise in the judgment,  Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.  For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous,  But the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1

    The Bible clearly teaches that both wisdom and righteousness are clearly related.

    Notice how the psalm begins, not with a list of things to do, but with a warning about where not to go. Wisdom starts with avoidance. Don’t walk in the counsel of the wicked. Don’t linger where sinners stand. Don’t settle into the seat of those who mock.

    That progression is worth slowing down for. You walk somewhere first. Then you stand. Then you sit. What begins as a passing influence can become a permanent address.

    We all know how that works. We’ve seen it happen to people we love. Maybe we’ve seen it happen to ourselves.

    But the psalm doesn’t stop at what to avoid. It moves quickly to what the wise person pursues, to delight in the law of Yahweh (the LORD). Not reluctant obedience. Not dutiful compliance. Delight.

    That’s a high bar. And it’s an honest one.

    The word of God is not a rulebook to endure. It is a well to drink from. The person who meditates on it day and night isn’t grinding through an obligation; they are drinking deeply from something that sustains them.

    The image the psalmist reaches for is a tree planted by streams of water. Not a tree that survives on rainfall alone, dependent on the weather, struggling in dry seasons. A tree with its roots in something constant. 

    It yields fruit. Its leaves don’t wither. Whatever it does, it prospers.

    That is the life wisdom builds, not overnight, but over time, with roots going down where no drought can reach.

    The contrast is sharp and final. The wicked are like chaff. Disconnected. Weightless. Driven by whatever wind is blowing today. When judgment comes, there is nothing there to stand.

    The LORD knows the way of the righteous. That phrase carries more than knowledge. It carries an intimate acquaintance. He knows the path because He is the one who laid it out and walks it with you.

    The way of the wicked perishes. Not because God abandons them dramatically. But because a path that leads nowhere simply ends.

    Wisdom is knowing which path you’re on. May you find it.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God) 

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    SUMMARY

    Psalm 1 teaches that wisdom and righteousness begin by rejecting the influence of the wicked and delighting instead in the law of the LORD. The righteous person is compared to a tree planted by streams of water, firmly rooted and fruitful, while the wicked are unstable like chaff that the wind drives away.

    KEY POINTS

    Wisdom begins with guarding where you walk, stand, and sit, because small influences can shape an entire life.

    The person who delights in and meditates on God’s Word is spiritually sustained, fruitful, and steadfast through every season.

    The righteous are known personally by Yahweh (the LORD), while the path of the wicked ultimately leads to destruction.

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