June 20

From the time we are enrolled in kindergarten we are admonished to study. The last thing most children want to do is to study. They far prefer playing with their friends or indulging the bubble gum for the brain that passes as children’s programming on television. But the adults in their lives, if they are truly wise, require them to be diligent in their pursuit of knowledge.

The Word of God requires diligent application as well. We know our Heavenly Father wants us to study His Word because He tells us so in His Word! The admonitions to study are throughout the scriptures. II Timothy 2:15 says we should, “study to show ourselves approved of the Lord, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

I Timothy 4:15 states this admonition another way: “Meditate upon the things of the Lord, give yourself wholly to them that everyone may see how benefitted you are by the study of the Word.” There is one incomparable advantage to applying ourselves to the Word, to appropriating it unto ourselves, to making it part of the fabric of our lives.

Psalm 119:11 reveals this wonderful benefit, “Your Word have I hidden in my heart that I will not sin against You.” Ultimately, girding ourselves with the Word has the power to guard and keep us from sin. When we know the Word—Jesus is the Living Word of God—intimately, it is our joy to draw closer to Him, to study Him and be like Him.