Have you ever noticed those advertising images of famous
people with milk mustaches? Does that
seem silly to you or cool? Who walks
around with a milk mustache, any way? Those ads are encouraging the consumption
of Cow’s milk. Sometimes the milk commercials have people downing some cookies
then desperately looking around for some milk to chase down the cookies. I don’t know about you, but when I have some
peanut butter cookies or Oreo cookies I crave some milk to go with them. Yum!
Kym and I have four children, including a toddler girl (Elle)
who loved her momma’s breast milk several times a day and night last year. She
craved that breast milk and it was obviously when she wanted it. Those moments
Elle was on Kym’s breast were bonding between child and mother and the breast milk
itself was a good complete form of nutrition for her as a baby. Early on, this
was Elle’s only diet and it helped her develop and grow.
I find it interesting that God exhorts us through His
written Word, the Holy Bible, to crave His Word like newborn babies crave
breast milk and that this will help us grow spiritually.
as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow
thereby,
1 Peter 2:2 NKJV
The
‘word’ here refers to God’s Holy Word (similar to how James uses it; Jam.
1:21-23). This Greek word, logos, is also the same word used of Jesus Christ in
John 1:1, 14, 17. The Word was God and the Word
became flesh; Jesus Christ, came full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ Himself is the
living Word of God. He is the truth and He reveals truth. He is the ultimate
source of the Holy Scriptures and these Scriptures ultimately point to Him as
the Savior and Lord we all need.
The
‘pure milk of the word’, I believe, is a metaphor of God’s Word for God’s
people, that His Word is good, sincere, and beneficial to us just as a mom’s
breast milk is to her baby. God’s Word is truth that contains principles and
promises that will feed our souls and guide us in life; to the glory of God.
The Bible itself uses metaphors of food (bread) and beverage
(water) and eating and drinking for God’s Word and our proper response to it.
We can relate to these metaphors. We eat and drink on a regular basis as a
necessity and for satisfaction. We know what feelings of thirst and hunger are.
Food and drink are essential to life. Food gives us energy and strength.
It helps us to grow. Water quenches our thirst and replenishes us.
Here are some classic passages of such metaphors:
Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV 3 And
he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not
know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does
not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth
of the LORD.
Psalm 119:103 ESV How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter
than honey to my mouth!
Jeremiah 15:16 ESV 16 Your
words were found, and I ate them, and your words became
to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.
John 6:35 ESV 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger,
and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
John 4:10-14 ESV 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to
you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living
water.” 11 The woman
said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.
Where do you get that living water? 12 Are
you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it
himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus
said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be
thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him
will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
1 Timothy 4:6 NKJV 6 If
you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus
Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which
you have carefully followed.
Now,
let’s go back to 1 Peter 2:2 and notice the word ‘desire.’ We are to desire
this pure milk of the word. This word ‘desire’ in its original language of
Greek can mean intensely crave and long for. When I think of the word ‘crave’ I
think of pregnant women. Each time my wife was pregnant she craved certain
foods more than she did when she was not pregnant. Her body would seriously
long for a certain food to consume and she wasn’t truly satisfied until she had
that food item.
Do you
ever intensely crave and long for God’s Word? To feed you? To minister to you?
To guide you? To transform you? To grow you?
Much like the natural growth process of a person who grows
through the stages of childhood and then into adulthood there is also a
spiritual growth process God intends for a person who trusts Him as Savior and
Lord of their life. God wants His people to grow spiritually for His glory.
There are many passages about the importance of our spiritual growth. For
example; Eph. 4:11-16, 2 Pet. 3:18, 2 Tim. 3:16-17, Ps. 1:1-3, Rom. 8:29).
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18 ESV
It’s
important that we desire God’s Word and this will help us in the process of
growing spiritually. Even if we aren’t feeling that craving desire for it we
should ask God for a greater desire for it and spend quality time in His Word
nonetheless. The spiritual hunger will come when we genuinely seek the Lord and
His Word for our lives for His glory.
A great biblical example of craving God’s Word and spiritual
growth through God’s Word is found in Ps. 119. The utmost importance of God’s
Word in our daily lives cannot be overstated. This Psalm writer knew this,
lived this, and has provided a written proclamation of this for us. God’s Word
dominated this writer’s life daily from before sunrise to after sunset; for
example, before dawn (v147), daily (v97), 7 times daily (v164), nightly (vv55,
148), and at midnight (v62).
There are eight different Hebrew words that refer to
Scripture (God’s Word) in this one chapter, Ps. 119, with all but three verses
(90, 122, 132) mentioning at least one of them. Using the ESV, unless otherwise
noted, here are those words:
1) Law; from the Hebrew word ‘torah’; meaning direction, instruction,
revelation from God; vs1 Blessed are those whose way
is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!
2) Testimonies; always plural in Ps. 119, and always of laws as divine
testimonies of God; vs2 Blessed are
those who keep His testimonies (NIV
statutes; NLT
decrees), Who seek Him with the whole heart!
3) Ways; God’s moral course of life He has
set before us; vs3 who also do no wrong, but
walk in his ways (NLT path; TMSG
road)!
4) Precepts; commands, principles, orders
from God; vs4 You have commanded your precepts (NLT commandments; TMSG right way to live) to be kept diligently.
5) Statutes; ordinances, limits, things
prescribed or due, decrees, laws in general from God; vs5 Oh that my ways may be
steadfast in keeping your statutes (NIV decrees, NLT principles, TMSG course you set)!
6) Commandments; an order from God; vs6 Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes
fixed on all your commandments.
7) Judgments: justice, ordinances from
God; vs7 NKJV I will praise You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments (NIV
righteous laws; TMSG righteous ways).
8) Word; saying, utterance from God; vs9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according
to your word.
This is a powerful chapter about the importance of God’s
Word in our daily lives. Here are a few of my favorite verses from. Ps. 119.
Perhaps you have some. There are 176 to choose from.
Ps.
119:9-11 ESV (vs9 see above) 10
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 I
have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you
Ps. 119:37 ESV Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and
give me life in your ways.
Ps. 119:105 ESV Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Take some time to prayerfully read through and study Ps. 119
and you’ll notice that this writer had a deep hunger and passion for God and the
Word of God. The high priority of spending time in and heeding God’s Word was a
daily habitual pattern, a passionate commitment for this writer inspired by
God.
How about us? What role does God’s Word have in our daily
life? Is it a high priority? Are we deeply hungry for and passionate for God
and His Word? Are we reading His Word, studying His Word, memorizing portions
of His Word, applying His Word to our lives, communicating His Word to others,
praying portions of His Word back to God?
Let’s not just rely on a sermon or two a week or a bible
study or two a week. Let’s personally be asking God by faith in prayer to help
us crave God’s Word regularly and grow from God’s Word. May we hunger more and
more for God and His Word and may He satisfy us and grow us through such
hunger; all for His glory. May God cultivate a great craving in your life for
Him and His Word and may He grow you spiritually through His Word into the
person of God He desires you to be.
What
are your thoughts about craving God’s Word?
Mike
