The words of the children’s song are probably familiar to everyone who attended Bible School:
            The more we read the Bible,     
              the Bible, the Bible,    
           The more we read the Bible,    
           The happier we’ll be.
           We’ll learn about Jesus,
           and how we can serve him,
          The more we read the Bible,
          The happier we’ll be.    
    The view expressed by this little piece of childhood verse is absolutely “right on” in the life of the faithful believer in God!  It is in reading and reflecting on the things taught in scripture about the will of God, as it relates to life in Christ (and the entire Bible, directly or indirectly, does relate to a Christ-centered existence) that God’s person has the foundation upon which to build a godly life — and the resources with which to build.
    Meditating on the word of the Lord is one of the primary themes of the writers of the Old Testament collection of Psalms:
    “...his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
    “Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.”
    “I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.”
    “Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.”
    “My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.”
    There are other ways Christians can receive help to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).  We are aided through prayer, by the Spirit of God, via the encouragement of spiritual family, by way of God’s providential discipline, through the inspiration of preceding generations, ad infinitum.  But none of these would be available were it not for the inspired word of God at work in our hearts and minds.
    The late preacher A W. Tozer said of the Bible, “The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.”
    When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, recorded by both Matthew and Luke, it’s significant that his answers to the devil’s enticements weren’t taken from the philosophies of the world’s wisest men, nor from the teachings of the Jewish sects of his day, the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes.  Instead, he appealed to the time-tested principles of Holy Scripture, proven to be reliable in every event of human history.  
    Like Jesus, let’s give time to meditating on the wisdom of God.  
    We may have give up some personal activities, or reorder our priorities. But it will prove to be time well spent.