January 31

Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 119; Proverbs 31

Psalm 119:18, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”

There is one thing that I hope everyone will get from the daily reading of this devotional book. My prayer is that everyone will be challenged to fall deeper in love with the Scriptures. The Bible is God’s love letter to all of us. As you read the Scriptures, I hope that they come alive to you because they are living. The Scriptures are often called “The Living Word of God” because that is what they are. The book of Hebrews tells us that they are “quick” which means alive and “powerful”. Do you know any other book on earth that is like that? No! We take the Word of God so flippantly. We just run in and read a little here and there but never seem to systematically study it. Some of the sweetest times in my life have been centered on the reading of God’s Word. I have been reading and been convicted to tears. I have been reading and been brought to tears at the events that I am reading on the pages. There have been times that I have shouted for joy. I love to be reading along and all of a sudden a thought will come to me that is related to the passage or verse that I am reading. I take a pen and notebook and write out quickly what has come to my heart and mind. Then I go on reading. That is how this book is being written. It is coming one day at a time.
How do you approach the reading of God’s Word? Do you just sit down and pick something to read? Maybe you just open the Bible and start reading wherever it opens. This is not how God intends for us to read His Word. We must start out prayerfully reading. Our verse today tells us that we need to do just that. We need to pray before we start. This will allow us to confess and forsake any known sin in our lives and then we can have open communication between us and God. By starting out this way, the Holy Spirit can speak to us from the Word of God.
Have you ever thought that sometimes God allows us to be sick or hurt so that we will be still enough that we take time to pray and read His Word? He does. Psalm 119:71, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” Sometimes we just need to pull off the highway of life and take time to be alone with God and His Word. How about it friend, will you?