Cravings

Not too long ago I had a craving for Oreos.  It went on for a week or so.  There was something about the deliciousness of Oreo cookies that I felt calling out to me.  "Get some Oreos. Open the package. Eat some. Repeat."  The funny thing was that as the same time as I was having this craving the package of Oreos in the picture was up in the cabinet, conveniently located right next to the coffee I get there every day.

As it was, at the same time that I was having a craving for Oreos the next marathon on my calendar was drawing near. I am nowhere near as disciplined or driven in my training as I used to be, but I do have some things I still try to hold to during the last month of training.  Things like: No Oreos. No chips. No fries. No doughnuts.  You get the picture.

Not that I necessarily eat all of those things on a regular basis in the first place, but I do like them and I know that unregulated consumption of those kinds of food have a negative effect on the running experience.  I was living with my Oreo craving, while the solution was so close at hand. They called me like a Siren, while similar to Odysseus, my training plan tied me to the mast to prevent a weakening of my resolve.

As this was going on it occurred to me that there was something else going on, or better said, not going on, that perhaps should be. While I knew that I craved Oreos, why did I not have a similar craving for God's word? Why, in the middle of the afternoon or evening, did I not feel compelled to open and read God's word?

That question hung out in my mind for a number of days before the answer occurred to me.  I did not have a craving for God's word because nearly each day I was spending time in it.

For the past few years I have followed a modified version of the Bible reading plan developed by Robert Murray M'Cheyne.  It is a plan that takes me through the Psalms and New Testament twice a year, and the Old Testament once a year. It means, on average, reading four chapters of the Bible each day, all year long.

Reading through the Bible with the plan I follow doesn't take a lot of time, probably between 15-20 minutes a day. Some days I read with greater diligence than other days, as there are parts that I can really get excited over, while there are other parts that are frankly more of a struggle to get through. Some days I do this reading first thing in the morning, while other days it is a little later.  Almost every day my time reading God's word is done by the middle of the morning. 

That time in God's word, and in prayer afterwards, is essential to how I go through the rest of the day. I have learned the hard way that exceptions to this practice should be exceedingly rare. 

And perhaps this time in the early part of each day is why I rarely have a craving later in the day for God's word. I've already spent some time soaking in it, often with a thought that I come back to several times during the day.

I don’t know what you crave at times of the day or seasons of life. But the best thing we might crave is time with the Lord and his word.  And the best way to deal with those cravings is to feed on his every day.  Amen.