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“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).
What does it mean to eat the words of the Lord? Perhaps that sounds like a strange expression to you. But let us think a little about what happens when we eat. We take the food into our mouths, chew it, and then swallow it. Then our saliva, together with other digestive juices in our stomach and small intestine digest that food so that it can be absorbed into our bodies and become part of us. In this way our bodies maintain themselves, and we have energy and strength to do our work.
It ought to be the same with the Word of God. We need spiritual food as well as natural food, and that food is found in the Bible. When we read the Word of God, we ought not simply to read it and then forget what we read. Rather, we ought to think about it, meditate on it, and then make it part of us. In this way we grow spiritually, just as we grow naturally when we eat natural food.
More than this, most of us do not eat simply as a duty we have to perform. No, we get hungry and then enjoy our food. We look forward to eating. In the same way, if we are in good spiritual health, we want to read the Word of God, and it brings enjoyment to us.
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