Last summer, soccer became an obsession of mine. I wanted to be a really good soccer player, so I trained and trained. I was working fifty hour weeks, but I still found time both to run and also to get touches on the soccer ball. I just loved the game of soccer. When I wasn’t working or training, I would watch soccer games on television or play video game soccer with friends. Every minute of spare time I could find was devoted to the game of soccer.

This love and desire that I had for soccer is the same love that the Psalmist shows for the word of God. You can almost imagine him in the middle of the work day drifting off in thought, having to be called back to reality by his co-workers. But instead of dreaming about a special someone, the game of soccer, or any other hobby, he was pondering the word of God. He was spending his time thinking about it, meditating on it. Maybe it gave him a sense of purpose or hope for the day. Other times he would analyze how he might be able to apply it to his own life. Having seen people do this in the present day, I can attest to how encouraging it is to witness.

The word of God should be our love, our obessession. Many times we treat it like a part-time hobby. If we have some time to spend reading the Bible we might do it. But the Bible shows that follower’s of God have a different attitude. The desire to spend time in God’s word, hoping to squeeze another nugget of wisdom or encouragement for their day. This attitude does not come naturally sometimes. Much like soccer training, we may have to force ourselves to excercise some days. But after seeing the rewards of our labor, we will not be able to help falling in love with the word of God.