“The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand.” (Psalm 119:130 NLT)

Dad was a snacker, and he did it consistently.

One of my earliest childhood memories is how my dad would pause during the day for snacks. As a small elementary-age child, I can remember his opening the back door of the apartment where we lived and hollering, “Marty, you want a snack?” I grew up learning to pause for a snack mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and normally, before I went to bed.

Dad’s habits about snacking never changed. Most of the churches that he pastored had church-owned homes near them. Unless Dad was at the hospital or at a meeting, he would pause from his mid-morning and mid-afternoon studies, go to the house, and enjoy a snack. After 15 minutes of rest, he would return to his duties. Snacking didn’t take away his appetite for full meals. When mealtime arrived, he was always ready for the home-cooked meal that Mom had prepared.

Snacking also applies to God’s Word.

The psalmist devotes 176 verses to God’s Word in Psalm 119, and today’s verse says that it gives light when it’s taught. Most of what I’ve been taught throughout life is that I need to invest large amounts of time in God’s Word. I need a special time and place during the day when I pause, sit, read a long portion of God’s Word, and meditate on it. Good advice — and for the better part of my life, I’ve followed it, even when my lifestyle didn’t match what I was reading.

But I’ve also learned the importance of snacking on God’s Word in between mealtimes. These are the moments when I pick up a book or magazine and read a devotional or when a verse comes to mind, and I pause for a few minutes to think about what it means. Sometimes, I eat my snack while I’m exercising or taking a shower.

Just as the Bible instructs us to pray without ceasing, so we need to snack on God’s Word regularly as well. For this to happen, we must have God’s Word ingrained into our minds. This happens only by memorizing it or reading it frequently.

Feast on God’s Word daily, but also discover some ways to snack on it in between the meals.

Prayer: Father, remind us to make Your Word a daily part of our diet. Amen.

Copyright © 2022, by Martin Wiles <mandmwiles@gmail.com>, first published on the PresbyCan Daily Devotional presbycan.ca .
Greenwood, South Carolina, USA

Reprinted from PresbyCan with author’s permission