Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

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,

which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers (Ps 1:1-3).

This psalm depicts what a person who delights in the word of God is like, and at the same time, it describes the kind of blessings that are promised to such a person. Unfortunately, we do not find so many Christians who really love and delight in God’s word. For most of them, the Bible is something they feel obligated to read, or something that will benefit them as they live on earth if they read them, at least, in times of trouble. It is not at the level of loving it and delighting in it.

All humans as well as animals have desire to eat when hungry. They delight in the food they eat. It is natural, however, that when not hungry, they do not delight in it as much as they do when hungry. Healthy people cannot go without food even for a day: they love to eat, and enjoy the food they eat. But when it comes to spiritual food, some Christians feel still all right even after living without it for weeks, months and years. Why so? The Bible says, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God?” Don’t they feel hungry? If not, there must be something that makes them feel not hungry.

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation (1 Pet 2:1-20).

Newborn babies crave milk, and always cry when they feel hungry. What is important about craving “pure spiritual milk” is this hunger. If you do not feel this hunger, you will not crave. And the reason for not feeling hungry is that you feel already full with something else—“all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.” That is why this scripture tells us to rid ourselves of all these things so that we can crave God’s word.

Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature (Luke 8:13-14).

Compare these two types of soil. Those on the rock, at least, receive the word “with joy,” but those with thorns do not even receive the word with joy. The reason is that they are filled with “life’s worries, riches and pleasures,” and do not feel the hunger for God’s word.

Many things can be said about joy in the word of God. Some who do not have delight in God’s word read the Bible legalistically, or superficially. They have not tasted the sweetness of the word, yet. In the story of Neh 8, we see that the Jews who had returned from the Babylonian captivity learned this sweetness when the Book of the Law of Moses was read and explained to them. We find the following words in Ps 119:

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth (Ps 119:103)!

Another possible reason for not delighting in the word is that some listen to it in an impersonal way. They receive God’s word as truth all right, but do not accept it something that speaks about them personally: in other words, they only think that the Bible teaches truths about God and humans in a general sense, and have difficulty in applying it to themselves personally and specifically. Look at the following words:

Then I said, "Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart (Ps 40:7-8)."