A Cup of Grace – with a shot of espresso

One of the things my husband had to learn early in our marriage was to keep his hands off my plate, more specifically, my dessert plate. He came close to being stabbed with a fork on a couple of occasions when he tried to “share” a bite of my chocolate. I might have growled. If not, I certainly loudly protested.

In retrospect, I would have done much better to let him have most of what was on my plate and been satisfied with a taste. But that was not how my twenty-something year old self approached life. That attitude toward my dessert definitely caused me some problems. Yet, the image of fiercely guarding food fits well as a part of the picture for Psalm 1.

Verse one offers blessing to the person who avoids becoming a companion to and taking the advice of the ungodly. The blessings are based initially on what the person doesn’t do. But it’s verse two that I want to take a closer look at because this moves into what this person is doing.

“Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.”

Psalm 1:2

When I read “meditate,” the image that comes to mind is one of peaceful contemplation, a place of quiet, calm. But that isn’t the image the writer had in his head. The Hebrew word used here is haga. I recently discovered haga is an onomatopoetic word that captures the image of lion growling over a kill. The word is said with sort of a gutteral sound much like the deep in the throat rumble that the lion uses to warn others that this meal is his. (Find an audio of this sound. It will add color to your understanding.)

The lion needs this kill. It is his sustenance. He knows that if he lets someone take it from him, he loses something crucial to life. So too, the person who is blessed is one who “growls” hungrily over the Word of God. There is a recognition that God’s Word has lifegiving value. 

This does not mean that I encourage you snap at (or growl at) anyone who dares to interrupt your time in the Bible. However, I do want you to consider the importance of guarding that time. It’s way too easy to let other things take priority or distract us from that time. 

In fact, most of us probably struggle with even beginning, much less getting interrupted. We have a list of things we feel we must do first, and before we know it the time is gone. Or we have simply forgotten. 

I don’t know about you, but I rarely forget to eat. And when I do, I discover that I’m cranky and worn down. There’s a parallel to be drawn here. As if to emphasize this idea of nourishment, the psalmist continues to verse 3.

“He is like a tree planted by flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

Psalm 1:3

You probably lead a very busy life, but the writer is reminding us that the sustenance we need to move through it is found in God’s Word. We have people in our lives who need us, but we will struggle to be there for them if we are undernourished. Both physical and spiritual strength must be renewed, or they become depleted. 

We are too busy not to make time for God’s Word. He supplies us with the food we need to be patient, to endure, to make wise decisions, to be at peace, to love well. But just like we must eat daily to resupply our physical bodies with energy, so too, it is paramount that we resupply our spiritual body daily with nourishment. This takes action on our part. 

May we learn to delight in God’s Word even more than we do a good meal. Join me in asking God to make us hungry for His Word. May we take the lion approach and “haga” over it day and night.

If you found this post enjoyable or thought provoking in any way, please feel free to share it with someone else. My desire is to encourage and challenge others in their own relationships with God. 

Image of lion credit goes to Vecteezy