Mid-Morning and Afternoon Snacking - Martin Wiles

As your words are taught, they give light; even the simple can understand them. Psalm 119:130 NLT

Dad was a snacker, and he did it consistently. 

One of my earliest childhood memories is how my dad would pause during the day for snacks. As a small elementary age child, I can remember him opening the back door of the apartment where we lived and hollering, “Marty, you want a snack?” I grew up learning to pause for a snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon. And normally before I went to bed. 

Dad’s habits about snacking never changed. Most of the churches he pastored had church owned homes near them. Unless Dad was at the hospital or a meeting, he would pause from his mid-morning and mid-afternoon studies, go to the house, and enjoy a snack. After 15 minutes of rest, he would return to his duties. Snacking didn’t take away his appetite for full meals. When meal time arrived, he was always ready for the home cooked meal Mom had prepared. 

The psalmist devotes 176 verses to God’s Word in this psalm, and in this particular verse says it gives light when it’s taught. 

Most of what I’ve been taught throughout life is that I need to invest large amounts of time in God’s Word. I need a special time and place during the day when I pause, sit, read a long portion of God’s Word, and meditate on it. Good advice. And for the better part of my life, I’ve followed it. Even when my lifestyle didn’t match what I was reading. 

But I’ve also learned the importance of snacking on God’s Word in between meal times. These are the moments when I pick up a book or magazine and read a devotion or when a verse comes to mind and I pause for a few minutes to think about what it means. Sometimes I eat my snack while I’m exercising or taking a shower. 

Just as the Bible instructs us to pray without ceasing, so we need to snack on God’s Word regularly as well. For this to happen, we must have God’s Word ingrained into our minds. This only happens by memorizing it or reading it frequently. 

Feast on God’s Word daily, but also discover some ways to snack on it in between the meals. 

Prayer: Father, remind us to make Your Word a daily part of our diet.

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