Your words were found and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart for I am called by your name, oh Lord God of hosts.
– Jeremiah 15:16
Is that not a great verse? Your words were found and I ate them. So this imagery of eating the Word of God, digesting it, and not just physically eating, but enjoying it. Think about a good meal that tastes good. I ate your words and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.
Jeremiah 15:16 encourages us to crave the Word of God.
The Word of God is a feast to satisfy your soul and delight your heart because, listen to the last part of this verse, for I am called by your name, oh Lord, God of hosts. Let that soak in.
The Lord Yahweh, Creator of all, sovereign ruler of all, the God of hosts, the God of heavenly armies, has called your name. He’s called your name. You belong to him. He doesn’t just know your name. He’s called your name. The Lord made you. He’s created you. He personally loves you for all who are in Jesus from before the foundation of the world. God called your name. He set his sights on you. So receive his Word to you today as a feast. Find his Word and eat it, soak it in, digest it. Let it fill your heart and mind and find joy and delight in it.
God, we pray for a Jeremiah 15:16 approach to your Word in each of our lives. God, help us to love it, to hunger for it, to crave it, and to be satisfied in it. May your words become to us a joy and the delight of our heart more and more every day. God, we pray for your Word. Help us to delight in it. Help us to learn it and eat it. God, we pray that it would saturate our minds and our hearts, that it would fill us and consume us and satisfy us as the people who are called by your name.
Jeremiah 15:16 shows us Scripture as a reflection of God’s love.
God, we praise you for calling our names. We praise you, oh Lord, the God of hosts for your love for us and for the way your Word is a reflection of your love for us and draws us into deeper love for you and understanding of your love for us. Oh God, may we experience all of Jeremiah 15:16 in our hearts, and may we lead others to this good food we have found. God help us to lead others to feast at this table of your Word, to find joy, and eternal life in your Word. Please call our friends. Call our family members to yourself. Call their names through our sharing of your Word with them, we pray.
In our churches, we pray that as we open your word week after week, you would call people to yourself.
Prayer for the Urdu People
And God among the Urdu people spread out in many different nations from India to Pakistan to Ireland. God, we pray that the Urdu people, all 2.2 million of them, would be reached with your Word, with the gospel of your grace, that they might find eternal joy in Jesus. God, we pray that for the Urdu people, even as we pray that we would experience this in deeper and deeper ways every day in our lives, including today.
We pray all this according to your Word in Jeremiah 15:16, which is a delight to our hearts as those called by your name. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
