The Nugget:
Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
My Comment:
Job valued the Word of God and desired it more than his necessary food. In our day many are in need of developing a strong desire for spiritual food found in the Bible. The best way is to plunge in and do the reading.
Many students over the years told me they “hated reading.” That showed me that they had not really done much reading yet. I sometimes gave my students the option to choose what ever book they liked to read for a book report. In any case, I made every attempt to help students find books that would interest them. I also found a way to create individualized reading lists in the form of a short, three-book “reading ladder.” I would suggest an easy book to start with on a given subject that interested my student. Then I had them read a harder book. Lastly, I had them read a book meant for adults on that subject. I found that what the student learned from the easy book prepared them for the book at the middle level of difficulty. That prepared them with enough background knowledge on the non-fiction subject that interested them to read the adult level book with ease. I also prepared a fiction book list arranged on the same principle. For at least some of my students, that changed their mind about reading. They now wanted to read.
When it comes to Bible reading, the same thing is true. Begin reading the four Gospels in the New Testament. It helps to go back and read each book more than once. Each reading will increase your understanding. Once you get into Bible reading in earnest, you too will experience what Job did: reading God’s Word will become as necessary to your life as eating meals regularly already is.
If I were to arrange the Gospels in the form of a reading ladder, I would select Mark’s Gospel as the first rung of that ladder. I would follow that by John’s Gospel. The third rung would be Matthew’s Gospel, and the final rung would be Luke’s Gospel. From there I would encourage the reading of the book of Acts, which is Luke’s continuation of the events that followed the life of Christ.
“Read, and take your nourishment in at your eyes, shut up your mouth, and chew the cud of understanding.” Congreve