The Jewish people were a people of the Text. Within the Jewish educational system, one would have memorized the entire Hebrew scriptures (called the Tanakh which includes Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings - our Old Testament) by the age of 13.

They poured over the Text, discussing it together, wrestling with its meaning, meditating on it day and night. They knew that to understand their story and know their God they would have to know the Text. They experienced God personally through the pages of Scripture. This love for the text is both humbling and convicting. They opened the Word, with the full expectation that they would see God looking back at them.

Christian psychiatrist Curt Thompson writes often that we all come into this world looking for a face that is looking back at us. What we now know to be true in neuroscience and development was first true in creation. This is how the Communal, Triune God wired us. He created us to look for His Face gazing back at our own.

The psalmist writes in 119:58, “I have sought Your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your promise.” (NIV) The Hebrew word used in this verse for face means, “face, and by extension, appearance or presence”. This is also how we approach the Word. We open our bibles looking for a Face, His Face, to see Him, to be seen by Him, to know Him, and be fully known. It is our longing, it is how we are wired. Scripture is the essential guide that each of us needs; through the Word, God offers us an ever-unfolding invitation to know Him.

What is your current level of desire for the Word of God? What needs to happen to increase that desire? For some, experiencing His Presence in the Word happens easily, for others, it is a struggle. If that is you, then begin by praying Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” (NIV)

Trust the Holy Spirit, and ask Him to give you a hunger and thirst for His Word so that you might know the heart of the Father and be spiritually nourished and strengthened by it!  

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