He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. Deuteronomy 17:19 (NLT)
When the Israelites wanted a king to lead them, this direction was given to the new king. It referred to the Torah, to God's Word. He was supposed to write a copy of the Torah in his own hand and carry it with him everywhere he went. He was supposed to read it daily as long as he lived.
I am reading a book by Mark Batterson called If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities. In it, he digs into the word "keep" from the text above. Here is a quote from his book.
"The word keep means keepsake, as in treasured possession. It means to guard something, as if your life depended on it. It means to keep track of, like a courtroom stenographer. It means to watch over, like an air traffic controller. It means to keep watch, like a night watchman. It means to preserve, like a taxidermist. It means to examine, like a forensic scientist. It means to cross-examine, like a prosecuting attorney. It means to put in a vault, like a banker. It means to put a contract on something, like a real estate agent. It means to decipher secrets, like World War II code talkers."
When you read God's word, do you treat it as a treasured possession? Do you guard it, keep track of it, examine it and really dig into it? To you preserve it and watch it play out in your life? What if we treated God's Word the same way? What if we carried it around with us and read it every day allowing it to change our lives? What if it were that important to us? How would our lives and our world be different?