If we desire to receive something from the Lord in His word, we should not come to the Bible in a “dry” way, as a merely mental exercise. We surely need to study the Bible, but to really gain something, we should not only open the Bible, but open to the Lord as well, and allow Him to refresh us with His presence as we come to the word.

George Muller, the 19th century saint who founded the orphanages in England, was an extremely busy man, and yet he read through the Bible about 200 times during his life. Still, he also said his first exercise every day was to make himself happy in the Lord. We should follow his example! (If you have not read A.T. Pierson’s biography of him, George Muller of Bristol, I highly recommend it; it was one of the first books I read as a new believer, and was a great help and inspiration to me.)

The Old Testament tells us, regarding the food the Lord gave the Israelites as they were in the wilderness,

When the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna would come down with it.
— Numbers 11:9

Today, when we open the Bible as we wander in the “wilderness” of this present age, we should also open to the Lord and contact Him from deep within, to tell Him once again how we love Him and desire to spend the time to be in His presence and to feed upon Him in His word. Then, when we are refreshed in this way with the “dew” of His presence, it will be very easy for Him to provide us with the spiritual food we need from the word to go on in our journey with Him.

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—  8 August 2024 —