“And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them” (Deuteronomy 17:19).

This was the divine prescription for one called to be a leader of God’s people. He must have God’s word “with him” and he must “read therein all the days of his life” if he truly desired to live effectively before God and the people.

The Bible, there on the shelf, is the most important thing in our lives! We believe in God, in Christ, in heaven, in angels, in salvation, in eternal life, and a host of other things we have never seen or heard or touched. It is the Bible that tells us about them; otherwise, we would never have known. It is our one link, in this world, with that world. It is, therefore, inestimably important to our well-being in eternity.

We must hear it often, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). “Give attendance to reading,” Paul said (I Timothy 4:13).

Hearing and reading are necessary, but not sufficient. “Study to show thyself approved unto God, . . . rightly dividing the Word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15). The Berean Christians received a timeless commendation, for they “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).

It is also important to memorize Scripture. “Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart” (Proverbs 7:2,3).

Finally, we must meditate on God’s word. “O how love I thy law!” We should feel with the psalmist, “it is my meditation all the day. . . . I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation” (Psalm 119:97,99). Therefore, read, study, memorize, obey, and proclaim the written word of God—the Bible! HMM