Pick Up the Phone

I bet you've had this experience before: there is a friend or family member that you haven't talked to in a while. You need to catch up. You know you should call them, but you just can't seem to get around to it. It crosses your mind all the time, but you're always too busy to pick up the phone. Inevitably, a couple of days after you fail to make the call, your phone rings. It's that friend - they've beaten you to the punch. You don't really know how to start the conversation because you haven't talked in so long. You wish you had been the one to call.

This happens to us spiritually. Maybe we haven't prayed in a long time. Maybe it's been months since we've cracked open the words of Scripture. Maybe we show up at church for the first time in a while, and it feels like the pastor is speaking directly to us. We feel like God has a message for us to hear. It's like our phone is ringing. What do you do when you don't remember how to talk to God?

Pick up the phone.

Maybe that means that you need to spend some time alone today. When was the last time you experienced silence? How often do you pray for something other than food? When was the last time you asked God to change your heart? Maybe you should open your Bible today.

Psalm 119 is one of my favorite chapters of the Bible - it's a really long poem. Remember in third grade when you had to write an acrostic poem with the first letters of your name? That's what Psalm 119 is. It's a poem about Scripture. Each stanza starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The writers of Psalm 119 leveraged every letter they had, 100% of their alphabet to explain the importance of God's Word.

Read Psalms 119:97-105:

"Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Some of the things this passage says about Scripture are hard to believe. Sweeter than honey? Do you know anyone who talks about the Bible this way? So often Scripture is something we feel like we have to grit our teeth and read because we should. What if we were excited to open God's Word?

If it's been a while since you communicated with God, don't wait for the phone to ring, open your Bible. Maybe start with Psalm 119 and ask God to give you a desire for His Word.