Be provoked to read

Thomas Watson relates our effectiveness in mortifying the flesh to the intake of the Word of God:

We must provoke ourselves to reading the Word.…Our Savior bids us “search the Scriptures” (John 5:39).  We must not read these holy lines carelessly as if they did not concern us, or run over them hastily, as Israel at the passover in haste, but peruse them with reverence and seriousness.

Provoke yourself.  Peruse them.  Read at such a leisurely rate so as to hear the message from the very God of gods that an intensity of devotion develops.

Your heart and mine are prone to slovenly reading and casual application.  We need stimulation that will lead us to delight in our Lord and His Word.  The question that remains is not so much “how will I provoke myself?” as it is, “will I provoke myself to delight in God and His declaration to me this day?”