“An Intenser Relish”

When it comes to books, there are really two categories: the Bible, and everything else. While the great works of men certainly reflect our Lord’s creativity, the Bible contains the very Words of God. That’s why the psalmist appropriately gushes, “More to be desired are they than gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10).

And that’s why Horatius Bonar warns: "See that your relish for the Bible be above every other enjoyment, and the moment you begin to feel greater relish for any other book, lay it down till you have sought deliverance from such a snare, and obtained from the Holy Spirit an intenser relish, a keener appetite for the Word of God (Jer 15:16)."

Yesterday we received a sweet email about a woman with a keen appetite for the Word of God.  Jayne writes that, “My Dad's favorite memory of his mother is of her kneading bread on the kitchen counter with her Bible open, dusted by the flour.  She had 11 children and made all the family bread from scratch each day.  Money was in very short supply but her love of the Word was plentiful.  Working within her limitations of strength, time & duty, she found a way to fill her days with reading the Word.”

Similarly, Donald Whitney points to the example of another woman whose “longings for the things of God reached as high as ever” even when “her time and energy had new and severe limits.”

So if you find your relish for God’s Word has diminished, then pray as the Psalmist did: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Then dust off your Bible and read.

--from the archives