A Heart Healthy Diet - February 3

Read Psalm 119:7-11

I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me! How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Reflect

Consider your spiritual diet. Are you starving yourself spiritually? Are you trying to survive on junk food? Or, are you taking in spiritual nourishment every day?

Fruits and veggies. Lean proteins. Whole-grains. Exercise. That is the diet and lifestyle cardiologists prescribe if we want to keep our hearts pumping strong. But how do we keep our spiritual hearts healthy and strong?

The psalmist in today’s passage answered that question for us. In these five verses, the psalmist expressed his love and respect for God’s Holy Word. But, if you read Psalm 119 in its entirety, you will see that the psalmist didn’t write a meager five verses about how much he cherished God’s Word. No, he wrote 176 verses declaring just how precious God’s Word is to him. In fact, Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the whole Bible. The longest chapter in Scripture celebrates just how righteous, perfect, wondrous, delightful, truthful, life-giving, comforting, hopeful, valuable, wise, sure, and steadfast God’s Word is—coincidence? I think not.

You see, the psalmist knew that God’s Word is the key to a spiritually healthy life. He said that if anyone wants to know how to live a pure and upright life, all they have to do is read and obey Scripture. When we go back to the Bible, we discover that God has told us everything we need to know to live a life for His glory and our own good.

In verse 105, the psalmist praised God saying: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” In verse 130 he said, “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.” Verse 165 says, “Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.”

Knowing just how beneficial God’s Word was for his spiritual health led the psalmist to do two things: worship the Lord and commit to following Him with his whole heart. But you can’t follow someone you don’t know and you can’t obey someone if you don’t know that they’ve commanded. That’s why the psalmist said that he would store up God’s Word in his heart. He wanted to know God and he wanted to know what God expected. So, he memorized Scripture.

In verses 15-16, the psalmist shared his memorization strategy: “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” He fed himself a steady diet of God’s Word until it worked its way from his eyes and ears, to his head, and then deep into his heart.

If a diet rich in God’s Word is what we need for spiritually healthy hearts, are we consuming enough Scripture? A study conducted in 2021 by the American Bible Society and the Barna Group suggests that most Americans aren’t getting enough spiritual nourishment. They found that only 1 in 6 US adults read the Bible most days of the week and only 50% of Americans read the Bible at least once or twice a year.

But human beings aren’t spiritual vacuums. Our spirits are consuming something. If we aren’t filling up on God’s Word, what are we filling up on? And is whatever we are consuming nourishing our souls? No, the evidence is all around us. People are starved for God. That’s why the psalmist prayed: “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things…” (v. 37).

How can we fill up on that which will nourish our souls and strengthen our hearts? By feeding ourselves a steady diet of Scripture. Perhaps Jesus said it best: “It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). That’s a heart-healthy diet.

Respond

“Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word! Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word…Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts” (Psalm 119:169-170). Amen.

Reveal

Choose a portion of Scripture that you have been wanting to store up in your heart. Share your goal with a friend and when you have the Scripture memorized, recite it to them.