Michel de Montaigne came up with, perhaps, the best epitaph ever, which he had carved onto his tomb.  In French it reads: Que Sais Je. The direct English translation is “What do I know?”  I’ve always wondered what he meant by that question, because stressing each of the three words alternately produces three different shades of meaning. “What do I know?” inquires about the breadth of one’s knowledge.  “What do I know” searches out the depth of one’s knowledge.  “What do I know,” searches out the limits of one’s knowledge.  He certainly sought answers to all three questions.  After a productive career in business and public service, he devoted the years of his maturity and old age to reading, remembering what he read, and writing about what he had learned.

Being young I studied for ostentation; then later to enable myself to become wiser:  now for delight and recreation, never for gain.

                                                         -Michel de Montaigne

Although not a polymath, he was as well rounded a man of letters as any in history.  It is not often that one finds a man so intelligent, original, and sane.  I think the key to his success and sanity – his marriage of confidence, robust curiosity, and humility is found in the quote above.  He had matured to the point that he pursued learning for the sheer delight of it.

We found, last Lord’s Day, that this is the very place from which the writer of Psalm 119 works.  He has produced the architectural marvel that is Psalm 119 from the sheer joy of communing with God’s word.  Before we move on next Lord’s day to another major theme of that Psalm, I want to emphasize again, lest we forget, how important this joy is.

I have rejoiced in your testimonies as much as in riches. (v.14)

Your statutes are my songs, in the house of my pilgrimage. (v.54)

May your compassion come to me that I may live, for I delight in you law. (v.77)

 These are three verses we didn’t get to read last Sunday.

Oh how I love your law, it is my meditation all day. (v.97)

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. (v.103)

I love your commandments above gold, yes fine gold. (v127).

These are three verses we did read last Sunday. There are 33 verses in this Psalm that specifically refer to God’s word bringing joy and delight. The message is clear that God wishes we read His word for its ability to delight, to bring joy.

Last week in this space we talked about the curse of work, and the joy of harvest.  We argued from scripture that Evangelism is harvest – is an activity of joy.  So also is it true that Bible reading is an effort of joy, not of work. It is true that Paul describes the Bible Student as a skilled craftsman (II Timothy 2.15), whose skills are acquired through exertion.  I would argue that Paul’s emphasis is on effort, not drudgery.  Much of what we enjoy requires effort, preparation, the acquiring of skills, the practice of those skills – but the effort an avid golfer spends mastering his long irons, the time a trail rider spends caring for her horse and tack the hours a philatelist spends squinting through a magnifying glass, are hours of bliss.

For the child of God, every moment spent reading His word, and hearing His voice is greatest bliss.