Psalm 119:60 (NIV)
60 I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.
The Psalmist commits to obeying God’s commands and with
move quickly to act on them without delay.
At age 35 I bought running shoes and began enjoying the
smooth rhythms of long-distance running. Soon I was competing in 10K races
every month or so, and then a marathon once a year. By then I was subscribing
to and reading three running magazines! Then I pulled a muscle and couldn't run
for a couple of months. Those magazines were still all over the house, but I
never opened one. The moment I resumed running, though, I started reading
again.
That's when I realized that my reading was an extension
of something I was a part of. I was reading for companionship and affirmation
of the experience of running. I learned a few things along the way, but mostly
it was to deepen my world of running. If I wasn't running, there was nothing to
deepen.
The parallel with reading Scripture is striking. If I'm
not living in active response to the living God, reading about his
creation/salvation/holiness won't hold my interest for long. The most important
question isn't "What does this mean," but "What can I
obey?" Simple obedience will open up our lives to a text more quickly than
any number of Bible studies, dictionaries, and concordances.
[Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book (William B. Eerdmans,
2006), pp. 70-71; paraphrased in the September 18 entry of Men of Integrity
(September/October 2009)]
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