His delight and desire-(A Devotion by Gbile Akanni )

But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.Psalms 1:2

The delight of a man's heart is what forms and formulates his excitement. It is what engages his emotion and dominates his thoughts. It is what obsesses him and its lack brings him depression. It is what he does effortlessly and he is willing to give anything for him to get it. A man's delight is the joy of his heart. It also becomes the basis of his desire and quest in life.

Now it is very instructive for me that this man, who is blessed, is one whose delight and desire are in the law of the Lord. The principles, the precepts, the testimony and the wisdom of the Lord are what delight his heart. It is also the focus of his heart and his quest; and his longing is for the word of God, not as a duty or a religious observance but as a delight. He has seen the benefit of it and would pay any deal to possess the living oracles. He treasures the precepts, the instructions and the teachings of God more than silver or gold. He desires to have it stored up in his heart as one stores up grains in preparation for the time of drought and famine.

he first matter here is that the delight of this blessed man is in the law of the Lord. Others may read the bible just to silence their religious conscience. It is not necessarily a delight. They may study the word out of the fear of not making mistakes or falling into sin. But this man's delight is in the word of God. His desire is to receive the precepts, the principles and the teachings of the Lord as a treasure for living in this world. This is the crux of the matter I cannot ignore here. I may read and pore so much on the Scripture just so as to get some revelation to preach to men. I may even get so engrossed with the word of God just to give me some edge over the audience. But for this man, it was not show or for service that he desired the word of God; he desired the word of God as a personal delight. Even if nothing is to be achieved by it, he is satisfied to consume the word of God as if he is eating a very sumptuous delicious meal which is his favorite  This is the cry of my heart. I want to delight myself in the Lord and in His word. I want the word of God to become my favorite meal which I have an unquenchable appetite for. I want to be captivated with thy love such that every word that drops from your lips will be so sweet to my taste. I do not want years of my walk with you to deaden that appetite for thy truth in my heart. As the deer pants for the waters so must my heart pant after you and after thy word, O Lord.

 "…he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night."

Here is the holy practice of this blessed man. He does not just wished to love the word of God; he actually makes it his habit to regularly, habitually, addictively meditate on the word by day and by night. He ponders and studies the word of God by day and by night. He takes a bite of the oracles and then pours all his thoughts and emotions around it until the inner yolk of the word breaks forth into his own heart. He examines each phrase of the word so carefully and intently till his heart is illuminated by its light and he gets aflame with the fire of the word.

I cannot possibly get much from the word of God as long as I only rush through the letters. It will always remain a sealed book to me unless I am willing to turn aside from all other busyness to see this bush that has been burning for ages and would not get consumed. It burns everything else, but it remains, forever, that which cannot be burnt. God's word is ever fresh and ever living. It endures forever and ever. It is forever settled in heaven, and on earth remains the word that cannot go unfulfilled. It is the food for the soul of man. All who ran the race to the end and now wear the crown of glory fed on this bread day and night. It was the manna that they consumed daily and their strength did not fail. It is still the fresh bread that comes daily on the table of ‘shew bread’ each time I come there to feed. As the children of Israel learnt to wake up early in the morning to gather what is sufficient for their families according to the number of mouths they had responsibility for and they had to do it before the sun went up lest the manna melted, so must I maintain this discipline of early rising, otherwise the manna will melt away.

This blessed man rose early in the morning to meditate, ponder and study the written word until it becomes the living word in his heart. He went all through the day chewing the bite and digesting it in his heart. He came back at night reviewing, regurgitating and applying the word to every part of his life. He slept every day pondering the word in his heart. It formed the basis of his dreams. He would never allow any wandering thought to stray into his heart. Each thought was arrested and brought into the obedience of Christ according to the word he has kept in his heart.
I have every reason to believe that this Psalmist was the same man who wrote Psalm 119, which is but his own personal adulation of the word of God. O Lord, such a blessed man I long to be and this is his secret. This is what made him, and this is what will make me such a man in my generation. I must create the best of my day for this holy exercise. It is worth the best of my hours. It is the most important meal I must not fail to take if I will renew my strength to run the race to the end. It must precede every other duty of the day for me. It supersedes my preaching engagements unless I want to mount the pulpit with an empty heart; for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. I will soon begin to speak empty words to men if I should neglect this place of personal intake of the word for my own life.

O Lord, hear my cry this day! Let me not become so busy as not to sit at this table of ‘shew-bread’, waiting daily for the fresh manna from the altar, taken hot from the oven up above. Keep my heart hungry and thirsty for thy presence and indeed for thy word. Feed me each day as much as is sufficient for me. It is honey in my mouth and I want to take as much so that I do not vomit it. I do not want it to reduce to mere religious duty or a daily dry routine. Let it remain the delight and the desire of my soul.

Father, keep it so for me in all my pilgrimage in Jesus name. Amen.