Grind the Wheat

“I will meditate on Thy precepts.” —Psalm 119:15

“There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. . . . Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God’s Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord. . . .” 
– Charlies H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

“For too many of us, the hustle and bustle of electronic activity is a sad expression of a deeper acedia. We feel busy, but not with a hobby or recreation or play.  We are busy with busyness.   Rather than figure out what to do with our spare minutes and hours, we are content to swim in the shallows and pass our time with passing the time.  How many of us, growing too accustomed to the acedia of our age, feel this strange mix of busyness and lifelessness?  We are always engaged with our thumbs, but rarely engaged with our thought.  We keep downloading information, but rarely get down into the depths of our hearts.  That’s acedia– purposelessness disguised as constant commotion.” 
– Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy

“More than just a novel about “censorship”-as the cover usually claims- Fahrenheit 451 is a picture of how private citizens’ lack of will to reflect on anything- which can be understood as a lack of intellectual diligence-leads to censorship.  And not just censorship of reading material, but a soul-crippling censorship of thought.  Monolithic government-control has been achieved through the means of a thoroughly entertained populace.  It’s a world where TV and sports and bite-sized snippets of inconsequential news have become the center of all culture and society.  And reflection, thought, has become a pesky, bothersome thing that just gets in the way of all that.  Reflections causes only sorrow, those in charge say.  And so, for the good of society, books-which induce reflection far more than most things- are illegal.”
-Garret Johnson, “The Virtue of Dystopian Fiction,” The City, Fall 2013

“The true notion of holy evangelical truths will not live, at least not flourish, where they are divided from a holy conversation….And herein alone can we come unto the assurance, that what we know and learn is indeed the truth.  So our Saviour tells us, that ‘of any man do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God’ (John 7:17)…And hereby will they be led continually into farther degrees of knowledge.  For the mind of man is capable of receiving continual supplies in the increase of light and knowledge whilst it is in this world, if so be they are improved unto their proper end in obedience unto God.  But without this, the mind will be quickly stuffed with notions, so that no streams can descend into it from the fountain of truth.” 
-John Owen, Works IV

“Here, then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.”
-R. C. Sproul, Knowing Scripture

I know a 90 year old man named Alan.  This saint follows hard-grinds the wheat– still studying to show himself approved.  Disciplined, he loves the Lord with his heart, soul, and mind.

Asked how Alan spends his time these days, his granddaughter, related, “He doesn’t go out to church as much.  But he reads the Bible all the time.  And he fasts on Tuesdays.  And prays for missionaries.”

God give me this one magnificent obsession.