Crave Pure Spiritual Milk

^{Last night at church our pastor spoke on the words from 1 Peter 2:1-3.  That scripture says:}

 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

This scripture really challenged me.  I read it and re-read it.  I had to ask myself, do I really crave God's word?  Do I seek out opportunities to delve into it and seek to find subtle nuances that were hidden to me before?  I honestly had to answer, no.  I read the Bible.  I remember some scripture (some, not a lot), and the major stories of the Word, but I don't read it to seek something new from it always. 

God's word to us should be a craving.  Why?  It is our direct link to what God has commanded us to do, how He has illustrated for us to conduct our lives and mostly because it was sent for us to know Him better by.  When you think about how a baby needs milk, how they don't stop fussing until they get their need met, you must then compare yourself with that same urgency.  Do you merely read God's word to read it?  Or do you read it because you crave it? 

I seek to develop a craving for God's word.  Brother Dan gave us a really good start at developing a craving for that "pure spiritual milk".  The first step was to rid yourself of all these that were mentioned in the scripture.  Like a child, if you are full with bad stuff (in a child's case, junk food) you won't be hungry for the healthy good stuff.  We need to rid ourselves of sin and the love of it to be able to have room for God's word.

The second step, read it!  Get in there and dig in.  God reminded me during this sermon (as He often does) of something I already knew, but hadn't put the two together.  Researchers say that in order to get a toddler/child to like a new food, they must try it between 6-15 times (Read about it here).  So if it takes a child that many times to develop a taste for something so basic as food, how many more times must I read God's Word before it surpasses habit and reaches a necessity? 

Thank you God for using Bro. Dan once again to tell me something that I needed to hear. 

It is Well with my soul

Last night during our Wed. night Bible Study, we studied the book of Numbers and more specifically chapters 6 and 7.  In Chapter 6 and verse 22 the Bible gives us a "Priestly Blessing" that Aaron and his sons were to give the Israelites.  It reads:

 ²⁴ “‘“The LORD bless you
and keep you;
²⁵ the LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’  (Biblegateway.com)

And in this blessing, Bro. Dan asked us what does it mean when it says "give you peace".  He said that peace (in this instance) doesn't mean without turmoil, it means that no matter what life gives you, you should be okay and at peace with it.  The more he explained it, the more it made sense.  While he was talking one of our hymns came into my brain.  "It is well with my soul".  One of the lines in that song says:

"When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul."

God spoke to me in that moment and told me that whatever comes my way, it should always be well with my soul, because he knows what is coming on the other end of everything.  He has control of my life. 

Thank you Lord for all you do for me.  Thank you for this gift of technology that allows me to share with others what you have given to me, peace.