Read Together: Psalm 19:7–11

On Sunday, Pastor Jerry walked us through the meaning of the Jewish Feast of Weeks (Pentecost). This Jewish Feast is a holiday of thanksgiving and covenant renewal, a time of remembering God’s covenant with his people. This feast reminds us of the value of God’s Word, which David also brings out in Psalm 19.

In the second half of Psalm 19, David declares that God’s Word is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and true. It gives life to our souls, makes us wise, gives us joy, opens our eyes to truth, and endures forever. We should delight in God’s Word as more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey. God’s Word is a fountain of all that is good, right, true, and sweet to our souls.

So, when we open our Bibles, do our souls salivate, so to speak, for the sweetness of God’s truth? Are we eager to taste and see in the pages of Scripture that the Lord is good? We often subconsciously think the Bible tasteless, dull, and—dare I say—boring. This is because our spiritual “taste buds” are often dull. We are like someone who finds honey boring because they cannot taste its delightful sweetness. The problem isn’t with the honey, but with the person’s senses.

We need the Holy Spirit to renew our spiritual senses so that we might truly taste God’s Word as sweet. When we open the Bible, we should be praying for the Spirit to open our eyes and renew our senses that we might see the glory of God in his Word and taste the sweetness of his truth. We can take heart: our God delights to answer this prayer. When we prayfully take time to chew on God’s Word, we will find it sweet to our souls. Let’s be people who value God’s Word and show we delight in it by reading and doing it every day.

Discussion Questions

1. How does David describe God’s Word?
2. What does it mean that God’s Word is sweeter than honey?
3. How can we grow to value God’s Word more in our daily lives?

Ideas for Younger Kids

• Read Psalm 19:7–11 with your children. Talk about what it means that God’s Word is sweet.
• Make a sweet dessert with your family. Enjoy it together and use this as a practical illustration to discuss how God’s Word is sweeter than honey or anything else. (I’m sure your kids will like this one!)

Memorization: “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” (Psalm 19:10)

Song: Listen to “Speak O Lord” (Keith and Kristyn Getty).

Pray Together

• Praise God that he is the God of truth and the God who always speaks what is true, good, and sweet to our souls.
• Confess before God that we often find God’s Word tasteless, dull, and boring.
• Give thanks to God that he has given us his Word, and that Jesus is the Word-made-flesh.
• Pray that God would restore our spiritual “tastes” so that we might daily delight in his Word.  

Go Together

·      Pastor Jerry gave some practical steps to grow in valuing God’s Word as individuals and families. Take stock on how you are applying these. Here are a few questions to get you started:

o   Are you personally in the Word on a regular basis?

o   Do your times in God’s Word always feel like a chore that you never get anything out of? (Reading God’s Word takes work, but by his grace it should be a delightful work).

o   As a family, are you spending time reading and discussing God’s Word together?

·      Commit together to value God’s Word by reading it prayfully and sharing with others how God is shaping you by his Spirit through his Word.