A Love For The Word and Running

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither."
Psalm 1:1-3

Where am I planted? Where do my roots extend when they long for water to satisfy? Do they extend into the Word and prayer with a longing to be closer to Jesus? I often find myself diving into a lot of other Christian books that talk a lot about the Word and it is as if I'm satisfied to get the nourishment of the Word indirectly. Now it would be one thing if I was constantly sinking deep roots into the Word, thirsting after it and then reading other books on the side. It is the opposite though; I sink my roots into other books which have a limited depth of soil and then drink from the Bible every so often on the side. I am honest in this. This is what I do. My prayers as of late have been for God to give me a love for the Word and I have been trying to do my part in simply reading it and sinking my roots into it.

I was running on the treadmill today and was thinking of its correlation with reading the Word. You see I have been running quite regularly for the past few weeks and pushing myself. There have been pain and longings to go back to sitting around drinking Coke and eating Starburst jellybeans but now that I have persevered through this first few weeks, there is such joy when I run now. There are times during the day when I just long to run! The quality and worth of running does not come close to the quality and worth of God's Word (not at all!) but I find such a similarity in the rewards of perseverance that come with reading the Word. Having just begun to really sink my roots into the Word, I feel like I am in the first weeks of getting into shape and it's hard sometimes! Sometimes I want to go back to the Coke and jellybeans of devotional books and things which are not the Word. I love such books but I want to be so careful that my roots are being drawn deeper and deeper into the Word above all else!

I'm praying that the Lord would give me deep roots in the Word and that I would long incessantly for the Word and closeness to Jesus therein. Oh, that like my growing love for running, there would be increasing times during the day when I just long to run to the Word and sink my roots in and drink! I want to be closer to Jesus and my heart is still learning to see Him living and breathing on every page! Why would I sink my main roots into shallow soil when the soil of Scripture is rich and deep and flows with the living water of heaven?

"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water."
Psalm 63:1