A NOTE FROM MAGGIE

Many of the gifts of this world are easy to enjoy on first taste. We don't have to work at delighting in a baby's giggle or a warm, gooey brownie. Other gifts require work and knowledge to delight in. Not all of us want to make the effort to enjoy the reward of crossing the finish line of a marathon (or if you're like me, not even a 5k). We won’t all master a second language, read Shakespeare, or be able to play an instrument. These delights don't lie easily before us, ripe for the picking. They require cultivation. 

Too often we expect that delighting in God's Word should come naturally. We wonder if there's something wrong with us when we don't long to open the Scriptures as much as we long to check social media. We're mistaking the joy of eating a meal we carefully and thoughtfully construct from home-grown food for the cheap delight so easily found in fast food French fries. There is no comparison. 

So if you long to delight in God's Word, that is a good thing. Longing is the beginning of delight, but in between longing to delight and actually experiencing the joy found in digging deeply into God's Word, we find hard work. We don’t immediately have the right taste buds to enjoy Leviticus or Revelation—we have to develop them.

And developing that joy in the Word of God is essential. So cling to God's Word. Work hard to understand it. Pray for the Holy Spirit to develop this hard-won delight in your heart. Read Psalm 119—all about the goodness of God’s Word—and pray it for yourself. Let it sink into your heart and be used by the Holy Spirit to change you. And on the hard days, don't give up. Persevere in your study even when you aren’t delighting, because you know that God’s Word saves your life and gives you life.

 

Maggie

Content Director

P.S. Develop joy in God’s Word and work hard to understand it using the Give Me Jesus Journal, our bestselling Bible study journal!

 

A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT

God wants you to respond to his love by trusting him with your whole life. —David Powlison in Take Heart: Daily Devotions to Deepen Your Faith

 

FILL YOUR EARS WITH TRUTH

Podcasts, Bible teaching, and worship songs we’re loving lately

“How Great (Psalm 145)” by Sovereign Grace Music

"Psalm 23" by Phil Wickham and Tiffany Hudson

Though Natalie Grace’s album, Promises: Scripture Memory Songs for Little Hearts, is intended for kids, I find myself singing these songs all the time. They’re short and memorable and have the verse reference built in. My family loves to listen to particular songs first thing in the morning or right before school to prepare our hearts for the day ahead! —Lauren, Theology Editor

 

Read-A-Mentor Recommendations

Books, articles, and emails we’re loving lately

I recently came across an article titled "The 3-Letter Word That Changed My Prayer Life." My interest was piqued right away! Without giving away the three-letter word or crux of the article, I will tell you this piece moved me to tears and left me in awe of God’s never-failing love. —Gretchen, Founder

N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope dismantles the subtle yet widely held idea that the point of Christ’s death and resurrection is for believers to escape this world and get to heaven. Our future hope as believers is eternity with God in the new heavens and new earth, so Wright presents that Jesus’ resurrection inaugurated the firstfruits of this new creation and compels our participation in making it “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). We’ve been born again into a living hope, so all our labor in the Lord, all our suffering, all our minute faithfulness, and all things done in love, humility, and gratitude aren’t in vain but are like seeds planted for God to grow here and now, enhancing the new creation to come. —Lauren, Theology Editor

When faced with an uncertain circumstance or difficult decision, my first instinct is to research, analyze, and find out as much as I can about the potential outcomes, so "Why Googling Won’t Cure Your Anxiety" recently caught my eye. The article speaks biblical truth to the lie we’re prone to believing in our self-sufficient culture: that more knowledge equates to more control. If you too need the comforting reminders that we aren’t created to know it all and that we can rest in our all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God, don’t miss this article. —Abbey, Content Editor

 

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