Psalms 1:2: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night.”
My father used to tell a story about a time when he was a boy living on a farm way back in the hills of Missouri. A stranger walked through carrying a Y- shaped branch with a silver dollar attached to the end. I guess they call it dowsing with a diving rod. Anyways, the rod would dip, incline or twitch. The stranger even let my father try it and my dad said he could actually feel the pull of the rod, it almost jerked out of his hand at one point. Anyways the rod led them to a tree where it started to bob up and down. My Dad remembers seeing the image of a canoe paddle carved into the tree and the stranger said there was silver buried by the tree. When the stranger left, my dad, uncle and grandfather started to dig. Before long my grandfather gave up saying there was nothing buried there. My dad and uncle kept digging until they hit a rock and then they gave up.
My father always said; “If only we would have removed that rock.” He was convinced the treasure was under that rock. Since then it has been a family tradition to make a pilgrimage to the old homestead to search for the treasure. Sometimes they even went with a metal detector, but they could never find that tree with the Canoe paddle carved into it.
Many times when I approach my study time I will tell myself: “I shant study this evening, I am tired and surely I deserve a break.” Yet, like a divining rod, I feel the Holy Spirit drawing me to a particular verse. Then when I look at the verse I see something like that old canoe paddle carved into the tree, a hint that there is something buried in that verse. So I start to dig and dig and then I hit a rock. I am tempted to give up but then I think, “Will I find that old canoe paddle again if I return to this passage, so I call my study partner and bug her to death with my obsession and together we continue to dig until we uncover that rock and find that buried treasure. We are told in Deuteronomy 4:29: “But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find [him], if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” You can learn all the Hebrew and Biblical languages you want, you can purchase all my books, but you will never find those hidden treasures until you search for them with all your heart and soul. If you are lucky enough to find a study partner you have to find one that you can share your heart and soul with. Thus, you best study partner is your spouse for you would naturally share your heart and soul with your spouse. I would warn against a study partner married to someone else because you are sharing something that is so intimate and personal that you have no business sharing with someone’s else’s mate. Yet, it is that kind of intimacy that you need to discover these treasures.
The first word I wish to deal with is delight. I shall deal with the word meditation in tomorrow’s study after I have had a chance to discuss it with a friend. But I am intrigued by this word delight. I mean who takes delight in the law? In driving my disability bus, as any bus driver knows, when you reach a set of train tracks you must stop the bus, put on your flashers, open the doors to the bus (even in subzero weather) listen for a train, look both ways and then slowly proceed over the tracks. Often the red lights of the train signal will flash a few second before the gate goes done. When driving a bus if those red lights flash, you stop even if the gates are up. When you are in a hurry because you are late getting your client to their appointment, I tell you that law seem very ridiculous and I do not delight in that law particular when I am driving my car I do not need to jump through those hoops. Yet, David is saying he delights in the law.
The word law here is torah which in this context is a reference to the first five books of the Bible. That was all the Scripture that David had at his time, he need a prophet to fill in the gaps. The rest of the Bible was in the making so to speak. David’s delight was to study it and meditate upon it day and night. Can you imagine delighting in the book of Numbers? Or getting your thrills reading through the begats? What would motivate David to study the law day and night if it were not the anticipation of discovering some new treasure, some new knowledge of the God that he loved.
The word delight is chapas which represents one’s will but also that which brings pleasure. If I am studying a verse with my study partner and I do not feel the pleasure of God while studying that verse, I will abandon any attempt to write up that study because I only want to share what brings the pleasure of God. If we go off on some bunny trail often I sense that pleasure of God disappearing. I think I understand why David took such delight in studying the law, he felt God’s pleasure when he did. The first thing I do when I get home from work is begin studying the Word of God. I look forward to meeting with my study partner delighting (chapas) in the chance to just share the pleasure of God with someone else who gets excited about sharing the pleasure of God.
One of the most heart rendering things I run across are these little pamphlets called “Read Through the Bible in One Year.” A friend showed me a Bible sent to her and the Bible was titled “Read Through the Bible in One Year Bible.” It is almost like an achievement to read through the Bible in one year. Yet, these same Christians who will struggle and discipline themselves to read through the Bible in one year and feel very spiritual and very proud that they managed to read the whole Bible in one year will sit down with the latest bestselling novel, sometimes twice as long as the Bible and read through that in a few days. And the title says it all, read through the Bible. Not study it or meditate on it just read it. David did more than just read, he meditated on it because he felt the pleasure the chapas of God when he did. I will talk more about this meditation tomorrow.
Now I am not suggesting that if you are one of those Christians who can’t even read through the Bible in one year that there is something wrong with you. I am one of those who for years lived near a forest preserve. We would drive by and I would see it, it looked beautiful. But on Sunday morning I would get up early with my father and he would put the dog in the car and we would go out to the forest preserve and walk through it. We would say nothing because I knew my father was praying and I could feel God walking with us. I could hear the birds singing a special song, I would see little animals stop in the tracks as if to savor the presence of God. My father would also stop to say: “Look a rabbit.” Big deal? In God’s presence anything He created is a big deal.
So I am telling you a secret, don’t spread it around lest you get trampled. But there’s a treasure in The Book. Don’t just drive by or read the forest preserve of the Bible but take a walk through the inner beauty of the Word of God and feel God’s chapas pleasure. Point out to you study partner: “Look a rabbit.” Just be careful he doesn’t lead you too far down the bunny trail.
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