How Much do We take God for Granted?

I'll be honest; the past few months have been a struggle. I guess it really started around the holidays, and continued through the first of the year. Nothing but business and a crazy schedule...mixed with free time and a lack of discipline on my part. A week of missing solid times in the Word easily turned into a month and so on. With my travel schedule the way it was I missed the solid accountability of my brothers at church and became more influenced by work. My mind has been pulled away from meditating on Gods Word and my discipline to stay in it has been replaced with a discipline to work. Not saying that my work is wrong... Just saying my priorities are out of whack... and I have found myself truly missing the Lord. It is amazing how faithful He has remained to me when I haven't been very faithful to Him. It's also amazing how empty you can become without spending valuable time with Him... A confirming affirmation to me that I am truly born again is the simple fact that I used to not feel this way when I went a short time without reading the scriptures. I used to not long for Christian brothers to just be around... It used to not feel like the world had actually been lifted from my shoulders when I walked through the church doors. I used to not feel like I had abandoned my best friend when I left my Bible on the shelf. Now I do.

All that brings me to Psalm 119:97-104. Interesting timing... I won't type it all, but read it.

I'll comment on 97... ( I will later go back to 89-96)

"O how I Love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day." - 119:97

All I have to do is give you the lexicon definition for "love" with it sitting in the verse it is in, in context with the month I have had... and you should see where the conviction hits the hardest.

Love - ( as used in verse 97 ) An ardent vehement inclination of the mind and a tenderness of affection at the same time. Used to describe the close attachment between parents and children... the close ties of friendship. Jesus instructed us to "Love" (using this word) God more than anything else or anyone else, which Jesus indicated was one of the two main pillars upon which the entire O.T. rested.

Do you love the word of God like this? Or like me... have you taken it (and Him) for granted lately? When will my stinkin' flesh come to the reality that it isn't just putting a book on the shelf but actually God Himself... - Oh God forgive me.

-scott