Surprisingly we don't get a lot of great Mexican food in Arizona. It's just different and certainly not Tex-Mex like I'm used to because, after all, I did live in Texas for over 12 years. So when I came to Texas this past weekend, good Mexican food was on the agenda.
In the last 5 days, which is how long I've been in Texas, I've eaten Mexican food or at least chips and salsa a total of 5 times. One day we didn't have any, so you do the math. I've had a lot of chips and salsa. I'm kind of on a chips and salsa run, now that I think about it.
But that has to come to an end. My doctor would have a fit. He would remind me that I'm not on high blood pressure meds just so I pump up my bp with more and more salt. And I'm sure this little indulgence isn't benefitting my waistline either.
So no more chips and salsa, even though I have developed quite a taste and affinity for them. You would think that eating so much chips and salsa would satisfy my desire for them, but instead it has actually increased my insatiable craving. I guess that's the salt doing a number on me. But still, no excuses, I will simply not have any more chips and salsa.
The good news is that I've realized just this weekend as I've culminated my scripture memory challenge with a celebration to end all celebrations that I've also developed quite a taste for scripture as well. I've had a taste of eating God's Word and digesting it fully and I can say with all sincerity that it has satisfied like nothing else.
One of my scriptures from the memory challenge was Jeremiah 15:16 that says,
Your words were found and I ate them;
Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart,
for I am called by Your name,
Lord, God of hosts!
Some days during the memory challenge I just ate it somewhat like the Israelites must have eaten their manna in the wilderness. "Oh, more manna. Blah, blah, blah. Well, it's what there is to eat, so I'll eat it." Other days I gobbled it down like a biscuit oozing with honey! (My granddaddy taught me to eat biscuits by piercing them from the side with your pinky finger and filling the little well you'd created with honey or syrup or molasses!) Good stuff.
But over the course of a year, I've worked up such a steady appetite for God's Word that I can't stop eating the stuff! I guess the psalmist who penned Psalm 119 had a similar dilemma. In verse 103 he writes, "How sweet are Thy words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" He was liking him some Word of God! (Can you tell I've been spending some time in East Texas?)
The good news is that even though the LPM scripture memory challenge is over and they're not sponsoring it again this year, no one has told me I have to stop eating God's Word. And they won't. Unlike the chips and salsa I've been eating day after day, It's totally good for me with no harmful side-effects. Won't clog my arteries and won't raise my blood pressure. In fact God's Word memorized and meditated upon has been known to improve one's health and lower one's blood pressure. Psalm 119 assures me that meditating on God's Word, seriously pressing it into the deepest recesses of my soul, restrains my feet from evil, enlarges my heart (in a good way, of course), revives me, and provides a light for my path so I don't trip and get hurt. In fact, the psalmist, who also enjoyed a steady diet of God's Word, even says in verse 70, "Their heart is covered with fat, but I delight in Thy law." In other words, those who don't eat from God's Word have the health issues while he is robust with increased health from an ample diet of scripture.
So, I'm putting aside the chips and salsa, but I'm selecting a new scripture to begin meditating on and memorizing. And my bet is that the sweet taste of God's Word will be more satisfying than the salty and hot flavors of those chips any how.
Would you like to pick a scripture that really speaks to a need in your life and put it to memory too? I'd so love it if you would. Tomorrow I'll tell you what scripture I've settled on and you can tell me today or tomorrow if you'll be memorizing one too. It's always more fun to share your chips and salsa with a friend and it's just as fun to eat a little of God's Word with others too. Bon appetit!Labels: the Bible