16 July | Youth
«Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.» Jeremiah 15:16
Seeing books as “food”, as Brazilian writer Rubem Alves said, is a metaphor as old as the Bible itself. The prophet Ezekiel tells us about God’s request to him: “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you. So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness” (Ezek. 3:3). A similar suggestion was made to the prophet John in Revelation 10, centuries later.
Just as a meal should have smell, taste and beauty, a good book satisfies the senses and nourishes the soul. For this to happen, it is necessary to correctly “chew” the content, that is, meditate on what is read. This tip is especially valid for studying the Bible, the book that transforms hearts.
It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word hagah, translated many times in the Old Testament as “meditate”, it occurs in Isaiah 31:4 in the context of a lion that “roars” over its prey. As we know, a lion does not swallow its prey, but spends a long time leaning over it, in delicious “meditation”. It uses teeth, tongue, stomach, and intestine to digest food. This is how reading the Bible should be. We need to “chew it”.
This analogy reminds me of William McPherson’s story, the young man who was the victim of an explosion in a quarry in Africa. Doctors managed to save his life, but he was left without arms and completely blind. The boy’s greatest frustration was that he could no longer read the Bible for himself, always having to depend on the willingness of others.
On one occasion, William heard the experience of a lady who, knowing that she could no longer hold the Bible, she kissed it, saying goodbye. The idea of touching his lips to the Bible led William to believe that he himself could read the Scriptures again if he only used the tip of his tongue to learn the Braille system for reading for the blind. That’s what he did after a lot of hard effort.
His love for God was so intense that, even with his tongue bruised and bleeding, he continued meditating on the “sacred letters”. At age 65, when his story was written, he had already read the Bible four times. Today you have the Bible at your fingertips. Savor your pages. “Eat” the Scriptures, and you will be truly satisfied.