May is a beautiful month with much to celebrate—May Day celebrates Spring bursting forth in glorious colors of flora and fauna, Mother’s Day honors women’s roles in the family, Memorial Day remembers the sacrifices and service of many military personnel, and even Cinco de Mayo (5th of May), a colorful Mexican holiday that is becoming known in the United States, celebrates triumph over one’s enemies. But I would like to suggest another holiday that we should celebrate not just in May but all year long, a celebration that was instituted even in Moses’ day—the wonderful blessings of reading the Word of God! Maybe we could call this “Life in God’s Word Day”.
How many of us have multiple copies of the Bible laying around our homes? And how many of those copies are on a shelf or in a drawer collecting dust? Do you have a special copy that you read from or make notes in? Grab one of those volumes and open with me to a beautiful passage that celebrates the promises of God. In Deuteronomy 17:18-20, Moses instructed the Israelites that when they one day would ask for a king,
“…when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.”
I see in this verse at least five promised blessings for the one who reads their Bible all the days of their life and does what it says:
1) It will teach you to fear the Lord.
2) It will keep your heart humble.
3) It will keep you from straying away from God and His calling for your life.
4) It will help you enjoy a long life.
5) It will give your family a godly heritage to pass down from generation to generation.
This was such an important command that Moses even instituted a national holiday of Bible reading later in Deuteronomy 31:10-13:
“And Moses commanded them saying, ‘At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles…you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing…that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God…'”
If you are not in the habit of reading your copies of the Bible every day, pick one up and dust it off! There is so much you can glean from even a few verses each day. It will make you wise to salvation and will help light your path that God is leading you down.
Dig into God’s Word today, there are amazing nuggets just waiting to be discovered. And perhaps, as you celebrate God’s promises, you can pass along one of your extra copies of the Bible to encourage someone else to discover the life-giving blessings in God’s Word too.
P.S. And if you aren’t sure where to start or how to develop a Bible-reading habit, check out our Bible-reading guides available on this website under the Bible Reading Plan Tab. We have a variety of formats to choose from for a daily and yearly program of celebrating God’s Word.