Just as food is vital to our physical well-being, so feasting on the scriptures is vital to our spiritual well-being. It is interesting to me that the scriptures often refer to “feasting on the word of Christ”, “being filled”, “and the multitude were filled”. I especially enjoy the reference to feasting on the word of Christ. Feasting implies so much more than nibbling, tasting, or picking at. It is more like savoring, being filled, satiated, or sumptuous. When I read the scriptures, I ponder them much like someone would roll their tongue around and savor a tasty dish. Though I don’t drink alcohol, I am aware that a wine connoisseur will smell the cork, swish the wine in the mouth, and try to experience smell, taste, and feel of the wine.
When the terms we associate with enjoyment of good food are applied to the enjoyment of scripture, new dimensions of thought with regard to them arise. The scriptures provide spiritual nourishment, they can fill our souls, their messages can be savored, we can recall the feast when our souls hunger, they can sustain us at such times, and they lead us to desiring more.
My wife and I made a commitment to each other and to the Lord when we married. We committed to reading the scriptures as a family and individually, daily. We have been married almost 33 years, and have done very well with this promise. As a result our children were better students, we have experienced less heartache than some parents, and we have felt nourished and enriched in our lives. What a wonderful experience it is to “feast upon the scriptures.” I invite you to do the same. Before you go to bed at night, ask yourself, “have you feasted today?”
Tags: feasting, scriptures
