Many of us have, if we have memorized anything, have memorized Psalm 1. It is one of the most beautiful, succinct and resoundingly accurate descriptons of life in general anywhere. I have read it thousands of times.
However, just like a Mario brothers game, sometimes there are hidden "Easter egg" surprises that pop out at you and delight you after years and years. I found two this a.m.
1) "his DELIGHT is in the law of the Lord" This has to do with what object does your heart and mind naturally gravitate to when at rest and not demanded by tasks at hand. It has to do with one's deepest desires an aspirations. The BLESSED man has a heart, or soul, or inner being which is like when I was first in love with my wife, or when I was starting my business. I just doted, delighted, was obsessed with and just naturally focused my attention on these things, and found happiness on my plans, progress, and achievements. I am NOT like this with the word of God. Besides having a natural aversion due to my God hating nature, I am fascinated and captivated by almost anything else. So, how do I cultivate a heart that delights in the word of the Lord? I think it is like food. I am naturally an uber carnivore. The more greasy, salty and red meat, the better. Piles of gravy, raw steak (love steak tar tar)... etc. Instead, though, this a.m. I found myself wanting a breakfast of bell peppers (raw), banana, and carrot juice. I PREFERRED those, even though down deep the desire for red meat is still there, washed down with copious amounts of beer and Mountain Dew. The reason for this is that I have cultivated a taste for these healthy foods, just by daily saying to myself "this will kill you, and this will likely not" I find that I have trained my body and mind to like the stuff that is good for me.... but it takes time, effort, dedication, and determination. The end result is good, though.
2) Hearing the word of God read to me is very good. It is good while I read it myself. I have not yet tried reading it, listening to it, saying it aloud (yes, I feel silly), and writing it down, but having the various components of my being focused is better than staring at words on paper and then realizing I have been thinking about the garden, or Russia v Ukraine, or how I am angry/happy with my wife/daughter/grandkids or any number of distractions. It focuses one, and in an age of "squirrelism" fostered by rapid images on screens, this is very very good. The big discovery I made is that in the program I use for bible reading (Bible Gateway) there is a function to hear whatever you are reading. Fine. I already knew that. What is nice is discovering the benefits of listening to it at 3/4 speed. It slows it down considerably and assists me in focus. Aside from grinning initially at a guy who sounds like he is reading the bible on Quaaludes, it is a helpful thing.
Both of the above are an emphasis on what we already know, which is that it takes TIME.... DEDICATED TIME... to make anything happen.
Hope this is helpful.
However, just like a Mario brothers game, sometimes there are hidden "Easter egg" surprises that pop out at you and delight you after years and years. I found two this a.m.
1) "his DELIGHT is in the law of the Lord" This has to do with what object does your heart and mind naturally gravitate to when at rest and not demanded by tasks at hand. It has to do with one's deepest desires an aspirations. The BLESSED man has a heart, or soul, or inner being which is like when I was first in love with my wife, or when I was starting my business. I just doted, delighted, was obsessed with and just naturally focused my attention on these things, and found happiness on my plans, progress, and achievements. I am NOT like this with the word of God. Besides having a natural aversion due to my God hating nature, I am fascinated and captivated by almost anything else. So, how do I cultivate a heart that delights in the word of the Lord? I think it is like food. I am naturally an uber carnivore. The more greasy, salty and red meat, the better. Piles of gravy, raw steak (love steak tar tar)... etc. Instead, though, this a.m. I found myself wanting a breakfast of bell peppers (raw), banana, and carrot juice. I PREFERRED those, even though down deep the desire for red meat is still there, washed down with copious amounts of beer and Mountain Dew. The reason for this is that I have cultivated a taste for these healthy foods, just by daily saying to myself "this will kill you, and this will likely not" I find that I have trained my body and mind to like the stuff that is good for me.... but it takes time, effort, dedication, and determination. The end result is good, though.
2) Hearing the word of God read to me is very good. It is good while I read it myself. I have not yet tried reading it, listening to it, saying it aloud (yes, I feel silly), and writing it down, but having the various components of my being focused is better than staring at words on paper and then realizing I have been thinking about the garden, or Russia v Ukraine, or how I am angry/happy with my wife/daughter/grandkids or any number of distractions. It focuses one, and in an age of "squirrelism" fostered by rapid images on screens, this is very very good. The big discovery I made is that in the program I use for bible reading (Bible Gateway) there is a function to hear whatever you are reading. Fine. I already knew that. What is nice is discovering the benefits of listening to it at 3/4 speed. It slows it down considerably and assists me in focus. Aside from grinning initially at a guy who sounds like he is reading the bible on Quaaludes, it is a helpful thing.
Both of the above are an emphasis on what we already know, which is that it takes TIME.... DEDICATED TIME... to make anything happen.
Hope this is helpful.
