Reflecting on God’s Word
A Note from Mark
Dear Life for Leaders Reader,
As I’m sure you know, today is Giving Tuesday. I expect you’ve already been receiving requests for financial support from worthy organizations. And I imagine you’re not surprised to receive such a request from the De Pree Center.
Much of what we do at the De Pree Center, including sending Life for Leaders to over 11,000 subscribers, is given away for free. We are able to be generous in this way because of the generosity of our supporters.
In Executive Director Michaela O’Donnell’s Giving Tuesday note, she mentioned being struck by the hard questions people like you are asking us at the De Pree Center. She added: “Everything we do is geared toward helping you wrestle with [these questions] and respond faithfully to God in light of them.”
As you know, that’s an apt description of what we do through our weekday devotional, Life for Leaders. We are eager to make meaningful connections between God’s timeless truth in Scripture and the timely questions you face each day.
If what we do is helpful to you, perhaps you might consider supporting the De Pree Center financially. Your gift will enable us to continue to serve you and so many others through the wide array of programs we offer, including Life for Leaders. (You can learn more about our offerings from our website.)
But whether this is the right time for you to give or not, thank you for allowing us to serve you as you seek to live, work, and lead in a distinctively Christian way.
Grace and Peace,
Mark D. Roberts
Senior Strategist
Scripture — Psalm 119:11; Psalm 1:1-3 (NRSV)
I treasure your word in my heart,
so that I may not sin against you.
Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
or sit in the seat of scoffers,
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.
Focus
According to Psalm 119, if we hide God’s Word in our hearts we will be enabled not to sin. Psalm 1 expands considerably on the rewards of meditating on God’s Word. Not only are those who do so happy, but also, “They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper” (Psalm 1:3). When we reflect on God’s Word, letting it fill our hearts and minds as it guides our lives, we will live fruitfully and resiliently.
This devotion is part of the series: A Biblical Guide to Reflection.
Devotion
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11). This verse from the King James Version was one of the very first Bible verses I memorized as a boy. It was repeated weekly in my first-grade Sunday school class. It was a verse we were expected to learn well, so that we might, indeed, hide God’s Word in our hearts and therefore refrain from sinning against God.
Contemporary translations of Psalm 119:11 render the first line of this verse somewhat differently:
I treasure your word in my heart (NRSV).
I keep your word close, in my heart (CEB).
I have stored up your word in my heart (ESV).
I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart (Message).
If you go back to the original Hebrew of Psalm 119:11, you’ll find that the classic King James Version is quite literal. The Hebrew reads word for word, “In my heart I have hidden your word, so that not I might sin against you.”
Whether we’re hiding, treasuring, keeping, storing, or banking God’s Word inside of us, this activity surely includes what we would call reflection upon God’s Word. It may very well include the memorization of Scripture, as I learned when I was a boy. But memorizing words without reflecting upon them wouldn’t be particularly helpful for our spiritual lives. What Psalm 119 commends is the act of taking what God has said and working it deeply into our minds and hearts, allowing it to shape our thinking, feeling, and willing.
Psalm 1 gives us another way of talking about this process. In this psalm those who are truly happy are described in this way: “Their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:2). Notice that their reflection upon God’s law isn’t limited to moments of intentional worship and prayer. Rather the happy ones meditate on God’s law “day and night,“ when working and resting, when eating and playing, and perhaps even while sleeping.
Notice also that this reflection on God’s Word is not drudgery for them. The psalm says that “their delight is in the law of the Lord.” They enjoy the experience of reading and reflecting upon what God has spoken. When I read this part of Psalm 1, I’m reminded of my third-grade Sunday School teacher, Mr. Istanbulian. He was a faithful and effective teacher of the Bible. My friends and I enjoyed him and his classes. But what I remember most about Mr. Istanbulian was his love for God’s Word. He talked about the Bible and its teachings with such devotion and adoration. I sensed that, for him, meditating on God’s Word was a true delight and not a chore.
According to Psalm 119, if we hide God’s Word in our hearts we will be enabled not to sin. Psalm 1 expands considerably on the rewards of meditating on God’s Word. Not only are those who do so happy, but also, “They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper” (Psalm 1:3). When we reflect on God’s Word, letting it fill our hearts and minds as it guides our lives, we will live fruitfully and resiliently.
Reflect
In what ways or contexts do you reflect on God’s Word in Scripture?
What do you find difficult about reflecting on God’s Word?
Can you think of a time in your life when your reflection on God’s Word was a delight? If so, what happened? What was this like for you?
Act
I find it helpful to reflect upon and memorize passages of Scripture that address what I’m going through in life. Recently I’ve been doing this with Isaiah 26:3-4, which reads in the NRSV, “Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace—in peace because they trust in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for in the LORD GOD_ _you have an everlasting rock.” The NIV of this passage says, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.” Perhaps you’d like to join me in this focus on Isaiah 26:3-4. Or maybe you’d like to reflect upon and memorize some other passage of Scripture that speaks incisively to you these days.
Pray
Gracious God, thank you for speaking to us in many different ways. Thank you for speaking to us most of all through Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate, and through the Scriptures, the Word written.
Help me, Lord, to hide your Word in my heart. May I read it, think about it, reflect upon it, memorize it, and let it soak into my very bones. May your Word form me in my thinking, feeling, and acting.
As this happens, may I be like those trees in Psalm 1, fruitful and resilient because my roots have grown deeply into the fertile soil of your Word. Amen.
Banner image by Aaron Burden on Unsplash.
Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project’s online commentary. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Personal Integrity in Work (Psalm 1).
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Mark D. Roberts
Senior Strategist
Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a Senior Strategist for Fuller’s Max De Pree Center for Leadership, where he focuses on the spiritual development and thriving of leaders. He is the principal writer of the daily devotional, Life for Leaders,...