Word Nerd Wednesday: Hunger and thirst for righteousness, plus becoming a Learner at the feet of Rabbi Jesus

Happy Wednesday, my friends, and welcome to another geek-out-over-Scripture session! This week I want to explore what it means to be a true Seeker of the Lord who has a deep hunger and thirst for righteousness. We’ll start in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5, but who knows where the Word will take us? Let’s go!

The passage: Matthew 5

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.

And He opened His mouth and [began] to teach them, saying,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when [people] insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:1-12 NASB

I’m pondering exactly what it means to “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” and I just thought of a Hebrew word that I learned in a teaching session this past summer. Let’s go to Psalm 1!!

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:1-2 ESV

The word translated as “meditate, meditates” in this verse is hagah , which describes a low growling or murmuring like a lion chewing on its prey. It’s used in Scripture to describe the repeated digestion of God’s Word over and over again, the way that a cow digests one mouthful of grass five different times. It’s fully taking something in, repeatedly bringing it to mind. This verse and this word make me think of what it means to have your hunger and thirst for righteousness satisfied.

Here’s the lexicon entry for this word in Hebrew!

Here’s another verse with the idea of meditating or digesting God’s Word:

[Mem] Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Psalm 119:97 ESV

The word used in this verse is sikah, which means “meditation, reflection, prayer, devotion; musing, study.” This is a more familiar definition, but it still points to a more active form of devotion. Rather than reading a small piece of Scripture and then going on about your day and forgetting all about it, we are to make the Word our meditation all day long.

Here’s the lexicon entry for this word : )

This month I’m exploring four different facets of our identity in Christ: Child, Seeker, Ambassador, and Bride. Here’s what we’ve gone through so far!!

• Wings Intro Post
• Child (Agnes, Olaf, Nemo)
• Word Nerd Wednesday: receiving God’s grace as a child
• Child Bible journaling
• Seeker (Elsa, Hermione, Moana)

Hope you’ll join me for this month’s devotional study!!

The verse mapping/study process

For my verse mapping process today, I ended up in Psalm 19, which describes several different words for Scripture and their affect on the believer’s life. I simply wrote out each word with a Tombow dual brush pen, then defined it using the Blue Letter Bible app. I wrote down some notes from my ESV study Bible on the right page, and added some decoration around the edges to fill some empty space.

Here’s how the pages turned out:

Stay tuned for a Bible journal with me post where I’ll share how I took alllll the things that I learned this week into the pages of my Bible.

Take-aways

• Chew on Scripture constantly! Don’t assume that we know everything about a passage after studying it once.
• Meditate (chew on) the Word all day long
• In every form, the Word has immeasurable benefit for our own lives and others’

Becoming a student at the feet of Rabbi Jesus

Let’s go back to the idea of digesting the Word. Of chewing, swallowing, and regurgitating it over and over again like a cow eating grass. Of chewing on it like a dog chews on a bone, gnawing until all the meat has been removed from it and taken in. With this in mind, here are some questions I thought we might ask as we study the Bible from a Seeker’s heart-posture:

• What did the original audience of this passage take away from it?
• What are the key words of this passage?
• How do I need to submit to the truth of this passage? What assumptions do I need to let go of?
• What can I learn from the actions of the people/characters in this passage?

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Word Nerd Wednesday post. Would you consider yourself a Bible nerd? What’s your favorite way to learn?

Happy studying!