Benefits Of Desiring God’s Word Series

Coming back to 1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk… Peter is talking about a strong, intense, compelling craving for milk.

What is this milk? The Jewish teachers actually referred to God’s Word as milk. Peter is asking believers to crave for pure spiritual milk. Pure, unadulterated word.

Remember, the command here is not to read the word, study the Word, meditate on the Word, or to teach the Word. Al of those are essential, but at the foundation of all of that is the necessity to long for it and tremble, desire for the word.

Peter chooses a simple analogy to show us how to desire the word. Crave for spiritual milk like new born babies.

Illustration:

When a baby is born, we care about the dress, the proper crib, toys etc. Now, babies don’t scream because they’re offended by the color of their pajamas or don’t have a toy. They scream because they want milk. How many sleepless night we have had taking care of our babies?

The baby does not bother about the time of the day; be it midnight, early morning, afternoon and always the baby is crying for milk. So, you’re not going to forget to feed your new baby. That child will get that milk or drive you crazy, screaming at the top of its lungs. Peter is saying that every believer all the time should be craving the Word of God as a baby craves milk.

Do we even remotely have like that kind of craving for the Word of God?

What is the hinderance for us to read God’s word? 1 Peter 1:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

Now if these things are not laid aside, my appetite for the word will be diminished.

Hindrance for desiring God’s word is SIN.

Illustration:

Every afternoon when I come back home, Glory makes wonderful lunch. She takes pain to make sure every meal is unique and good. Suppose one day I am driving home for lunch and Glory is busy preparing a good meal for me. I stop over at KFC and have a bite of a couple of crispy chicken and a few french-fries, I will have no appetite for the food glory is making. I will just not be interested. And when people stop reading or studying the word, it is always for one reason, they are eating junk food. There is sin.

That is why Peter says 1 Peter 2:1-2 1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. If junk food is in you, you will lose the appetite for God’s word.

Search your heart and ask God, “Is there anything in my life that is taking away my joy for your spiritual food?”

Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

BENEFITS OF DESIRING THE WORD

1. Physical Benefits

The word of God lifts our burden.

We can run to His Word in our pain, grief, loneliness, or sickness and receive help in our time of trouble. Psalm 119:28 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.

Joke: To show you some of the dangers in the “lucky dip” method, consider the following illustration: The story is told of a man who used this method. The first verse he happened to turn to was Matthew 27:5 which says Judas “went and hanged himself.” Since he was not sure how this verse applied to himself, he flipped to another passage and the Bible fell open to Luke 10:37: “Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” The man was quite upset and he did not know how he could ever obey that, so he decided to turn to one more place. Again he opened the Bible at random and to his horror his finger fell upon John 13:27: “Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.” As you can see, this method could easily cause a person to take verses out of context!