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Jeremiah 15:16 - Source of Great Joy and Delight.

Jeremiah 15:16 - Source of Great Joy and Delight.

Jeremiah 15:16 (TNIV) When your words came, I ate them; they 
were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, Lord God 
Almighty. 

Jeremiah 15:16 (NLT)  Your words are what sustain me. They bring 
me great joy and are my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O 
LORD God Almighty. 

Jeremiah 15:16 (TLB)  Your words are what sustain me; they are 
food to my hungry soul. They bring joy to my sorrowing heart and 
delight me. How proud I am to bear your name, O Lord. 

Jeremiah 15:16 (CWR) When your words came to me, I ate them with 
joy.  They were the delight of my heart. I accepted them because I 
wanted to bear your name and be known as yours. 

  Depending on people's eating habits and the version of the 
Bible they are using, they might misunderstand the meaning of this 
verse. The New International Version translates the first sentence, 
"When your words came, I ate them." The Hebrew word translated "ate" 
means "to devour," "to eat up," or "to consume." God is instructing us 
in this verse to approach his Word with a hearty appetite ... a 
burning hunger. His words, our manna, are there for us to feast on every 
day. But as with Jeremiah, we must choose each day to meditate on his 
instructions and promises, for it is only in reading and following God's Word 
that we find true joy. When we daily rely on the nutrition of God's 
words, we will say as the psalmist did, "The laws of the Lord ... are 
sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb" (Psalm 19:9-10). 
We will be sustained by his Word day by day and will experience 
joy. If you don't have this kind of hunger and dependence on God's 
Word, ask him to make this a reality in your life. 
  LORD, thank you for your holy and powerful Word! Build in me a 
deeper hunger for it and reliance on it day by day. Lead me as I 
consume your instructions, promises and testimonies. Through them you 
will sustain me, and they will be my joy and my heart's delight. 
[Praying Through The Bible By Fuller] 

  Because I had Christian parents, grandparents, and 
great-grandparents, my family had cause for extreme gratitude but not surprise that 
my conversion to Christ came early, at the age of seven. For that 
reason I have little remembrance of joy at my conversion, though I do 
remember the warmth with which my dear mother knelt by her bed and led me 
to Christ. As a child, I had heard God's Word read at dinner, sung 
at summer camp, and memorized in after-school Bible clubs my mother 
ran for neighborhood children. Still, I did not delight in the 
Scriptures until I dug in for myself during a time of personal 
desperation. 
  I was returning to the Lord at seventeen years of age after an 
extended period of rebellion. My heart was aching and famished because of 
the way I had starved myself spiritually. As I devoured the 
Scriptures, I experienced for the first time how God's Word could satisfy 
the hunger in my heart. The Spirit of God brought the Word of God to 
bear on my soul, and I responded like the apostles walking to Emmaus: 
"Didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and 
explained the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32). 
  Since then, discovering and devouring God's Word has 
continued to bring me joy and delight, as described in my life verse, 
Jeremiah 15:16. A personally commissioned representation of that verse by 
award-winning calligraphic artist Timothy Botts greets me each day as I enter 
my pastoral study. 
  James MacDonald, founding and senior pastor of Harvest Bible 
Chapel and a Bible teacher on the Walk in the Word radio broadcast, is 
also the author of several books, including God Wrote a Book, Gripped 
by the Greatness of God, and Downpour. [The One Year Bible Live 
Verse Devotional] 

One of the highest and noblest functions of man's mind is to 
listen to God's word, and so to read his mind and think his thoughts 
after him. John R. W. Stott (b. 1921)  

GREAT SITE FOR CHRIST CENTERED BIBLE STUDIES:

Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies: http://www.liftingupjesus.net/

GREAT SITE FOR BIBLE MEMORIZATION RESOURCES:

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