Once during a long fast I discovered the meaning of this scripture. I ate nothing but I devoured the Word and I thrived.
This is not a post about fasting even though it is in the middle of Lent. It is about treasuring. It is about how precious the Word of God is and how necessary it is to life and joy.
The word used for "treasured" is the same word used to save up or to hide, even to hoard. Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11 is one example. It is what married women used to do with their dowries, being the only treasure truly theirs; hence the desperate search for the lost coin and the joy over its discovery in the parable Jesus taught.
Something precious, hidden, saved in a secure place, insurance against a day of need; something particularly one's own, necessary to one's well being, special, a cause for celebration.
I thought back over my life and I could not recall one celebratory event that did not intimately involve God and His Word. Not one. Not even the ordinary, everyday ones. How often His Word brought hope, confirmed a promise, revealed truth, provided courage, announced a miracle. Start to finish my life is bound up with the words of His lips and that word will still be nourishing me when the last crumb of worldly wisdom fails.
It is out of this treasure house hidden inside of me that ministry flows and feeds others. Equally so, I am fed of others from the their stores. How often I have "borrowed" a cup of sugar from a friend who seeing my need, poured in to replenish me.
Spend some time treasuring God's Word in this season and prepare for a celebration. He has provided His goodness for your way.
The mandrakes give off a fragrance, and at our door are all kinds of precious fruits. I have saved (treasured) new and old things for you alone, my beloved.-Songs 7:13
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