It’s a pleasure to hear devotional thoughts from Pamela Polanco this week! If you’d like to learn a bit more about her, just stop by the contributors page.
When I was nine, my grandmother taught me how to make beans. In our culture, cooking is an oral tradition. We don’t cook from written instructions. We learn by paying close attention and carefully remembering measurements and ingredients. One missed step or incorrect amount can throw off an entire dish.
Twenty years later, and I still make beans exactly how my grandmother taught me: a handful of cilantro, a pinch of salt and pepper, a bit of garlic, a dash of vinegar, and a spoon of sugar. I can hear her voice in my head as clearly as that day in our kitchen. The steps are permanently etched in my memory. I couldn’t forget them if I tried.
That kind of memory reminds me of what Psalm 119:16 says, “I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.” God’s Word should be more than something we read and walk away from. Just like a treasured recipe, Scripture should be something we look forward to, something that makes our mouths water. Think of the anticipation that builds as you prepare a delicious meal —the smells, the sounds, the process itself that is so joyful.
We are meant to approach God’s Word like a feast. We ought to delight in preparing our hearts to receive it; we should savor it as we meditate on it, and afterward, the truths must linger with us like the flavor of a good dish —a taste that our minds come back to time after time.
The second part of the verse means just as much. The Psalmist says, “I will not forget thy word.” If I can remember a bean recipe for decades, how much more should God’s truth be engraved in my heart? When life happens—when questions come, when the waves of hardship hit—what comes to mind first? Hopefully, The Scriptures.
When Scripture is embedded in our minds, it becomes our first instinct, our natural reaction to any and every situation we face. And that should be our goal: to know Scripture so well, to delight in it so deeply that it becomes our first response to everyday life.
Let’s treasure God’s Word like a favorite recipe we can’t wait to enjoy—full of rich flavor and worth savoring. After all, His Word is truly the recipe for life.
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