I love the God-given rhythm of new years... Giving thanks for what has been, and looking forward to what might lie ahead. And I love resolutions, and thinking about how we might best steward the time and other gifts God has given. Yesterday I wrote a bit about resolutions, and in particular,
considering our use of technology for the new year. Today, the one other area
(amongst so many others!) I'm keen to write about is how we might read and soak
in God’s Word in 2019.
Why Have a Daily
Practice of Devotionally Reading the Bible?
Why read the Bible? Why have a daily habit of sitting with
and meditating upon the Word of God?
I don’t know about you, but I remind myself of Israel: I
forget so quickly. (Eg, 1 Sam. 12:8-9; Jer. 2:32; Ps. 106:12-22). Unless I’m regularly feeding upon God’s Word, I'm prone to forget his
promises, to forget who I am in Christ, and to forget how the gospel gives me
real power for the present, and hope for the future. I start to believe the
whispers of the world, the devil, and my own fickle flesh. Having God’s Word,
and having his ear in prayer, are a daily lifeline. (Caveat: my actual, real lifeline is the person and
work of Jesus Christ, especially in his death and resurrection... his saving
grace, drenching and overwhelming like a summer storm.) Reading the Bible
and praying is not what saves me and gives me life… but it is a precious gift
from God in my humanness to help me remember the One who has saved me – his
completed work and his promises. As I hear God’s voice in his Word and speak to
him in prayer, I daily walk with and remain connected to the one who is my lifeline. The one who has promised
that if we abide in him, and he in us, and his Word in us, we will have life and bear much fruit. (John 15:4-7)
We read the Bible because Jesus himself quoted the Scripture
in saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4; quoting Deut. 8:3). We read the Bible
because it discerns our hearts, and lays us bare to ourselves, as well as before God (Heb. 4:12; Rom.
7:7-13), because it is the inspired Word of God which was given for our
teaching, correction, and training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17), and
because, as Jesus modelled in the desert in Matthew 4, it is our defence and
weapon against the accusations and lies of Satan (Eph. 6:13-17). We read the Bible because, as God's Word dwells richly within us, it transforms and renews our character so that we increasingly reflect our Lord Jesus - for the glory of God and our joy.
My Bible Reading in
2018
I’ve written before about how a new year always brings the
joy of praying and considering how I might read God’s Word throughout the next
year. Two years ago, I wrote a blog post about reading the whole Bible in a year, including my reflections in doing it, and why I love and recommend it. As
of last year, I’ve flexibly* decided to read the whole Bible through every
second year – I think it’s a rhythm that, Lord willing, seems helpful for me,
and aids growth in both intimacy and familiarity (thanks to Tim Challies for
those wonderful terms!) with God’s Word.
*“Flexibly” because a Bible reading plan is (once again) a wonderful
servant, yet a terrible master, so I want to stay flexible, and open to the
Spirit’s leading in terms of what I need to love and delight in Jesus, and be
ready to ditch any plan that’s no longer serving that goal.
Using Challies’ language, 2018 was a year of “intimacy” in
Bible reading for me. I read slowly, and small chunks. The year didn’t really
turn out as I planned, but in it, God gave much grace, as he always does.
I wanted to spend 2018 really getting to know a few books of the Bible. For them to linger in my mind and
heart, and to master me and form me in the image of my Lord Jesus. In this
vein, I ended up reading 1 Peter for almost the whole first half of the year.
It wasn’t all I read; I certainly did
other bits of Bible reading during that time (as well as using Tim Keller's excellent devotional, The Way of Wisdom), but in terms of my daily Bible time, it was mostly just those five chapters! (With a 1 Peter
commentary alongside in the later of those months.)
I didn’t originally intend to spend that long in that one,
short book, but it taught me two valuable lessons: First, that God’s Word
became increasingly precious, and increasingly part of me as I committed it to memory, and became profoundly
familiar with this book and the work of his Spirit in my heart. It was so worth
it, and I would do it again. Yet,
secondly, I think my long-fought tendency toward perfectionism was getting the
better of me towards the end – I didn’t feel I really knew 1 Peter as well as I should or wanted to, after almost
half the year, to warrant moving onto another book. Which kept me from moving on, beyond
what was helpful, I think. When I realised that, I entrusted my imperfect efforts to God in all his faithfulness, and moved on to the next thing. Lesson learned. (You might have a similar bent, or you might have different
struggles; it helps to learn these lessons, and to know yourself in
conversation with God’s Word and Spirit!)
I spent the rest of the year similarly studying and sitting
with a few other books: Ecclesiastes (one of my favourites), Hebrews, and 2
Peter – and spent December in an Advent devotional on a Bible app. I found that this kind of
slow and close-up reading was incredibly precious. Sometimes I
started to see new and deeper truths and links within Scripture. Often, my heart started to see and believe and
feel in a new way as I just kept on sitting with the same passages.
But at other times, I felt far less certain that what I was
doing was helpful. Sometimes I looked at the same precious passage, and yet couldn't come up with any insights or applications that felt new or profound. Sometimes I felt dry.
I think a lot of that is pretty normal. We don’t read the
Bible to gain profound insights every time we open it, or to feel a certain way
every time, or to find life-changing, concrete applications every time – even
though these are good things, and to be received with joy. We read the Bible because in it, God speaks to
us, and we sit at his feet, in his presence, and receive from him: grace upon
grace in Christ. Bible reading often reminds me of my humanity. I have days of
enthusiasm and joy, and days of weariness and weakness. Days of clarity, and
days of foggy barrenness. But the perpetual lesson is God’s faithfulness, not
mine. It’s his Word, after all.
Christ has promised to be with us until the end of the age, and he is. That’s
why we pursue him and hide his Word in our hearts, by the power of his
Spirit.
I offer these brief personal reflections on my year, in case
they are of any help or encouragement to anyone:
- Spending time in a book of the Bible for an extended time really is worthwhile. I recommend it, and am glad I slowed down this year. I'm enjoying this rhythm.
- I think, in general, it’s a good habit to read the Bible before reading what others have said about it (eg in sermons, blog posts, commentaries, books). I did this, and recommend it as a habit - but on balance, I wish I’d spent a little more time listening to or reading what others had written about these parts of the Bible.
- Memorisation of (and subsequent meditation upon) Scripture is inestimably valuable. Having God’s Word hidden in your heart is worth every minute and every ounce of discipline you pour into it.
- I’m itching to read the whole Bible again. I’m missing the bits I haven’t read in a while.
- I wish, during my Bible-in-a-year reading in 2017, that I was more deliberate and thought-through about jotting down the many questions that arose as I read through the text. I did this a bit, but not nearly consistently enough, and not all in the one place. (Rookie error.) I’d love to have taken some of those questions and used them to potentially shape my Bible reading in a slower, in-between year like 2018, as I explore some of the questions, topics, and musings I’m not able to pour time into when I’m reading bigger chunks. I’m going to be more deliberate about that this year, and see if it bears fruit.
The Plan for 2019
I'll be back to reading the Bible in a year! I’m thinking of
either this “Straight Through the Bible” plan, or this “Historical” plan – I’ll
decide in the next day or two. If you’re keen to join me on reading the whole
Bible in 2019, you can find a helpful selection of different plans here.
A couple of random tools and thoughts:
- I’m hoping to “read ahead” a bit, to give me a couple of days a week to sit with smaller passages that allow me to sit with God and what he’s teaching me through the life experiences he gives me. (Alternatively, you could do a “5-day plan” that’s designed to give you Bible readings for 5 of the 7 days, with 2 days per week to read other things, or to catch up. There just wasn’t a 5-day plan I found that suited me this year!)
- I’m going to use my audio Bible – either alongside my visual reading, or at other times, for example, in the car. (I use an app on my phone – there’s a few options out there).
- I’m going to keep on using my Bible pencil highlighters, and my journal for notes, reflections, and learnings.
Prayer. In a
similar way to other books on prayer (such as Paul E. Miller’s excellent book, A Praying Life), Tim Keller’s Prayer deeply inspired and challenged me
this year in thinking through my habits and experiences of prayer. (Highly recommended.) He
challenges the tendency, perhaps especially of many of us Reformed-evangelical-types, to spend most of one’s devotional time reading the Bible, with prayer at the
end, and far less time spent in it. I’m often guilty of this. With God’s help,
I hope to spend relatively more time in meditation and prayer, relative to Bible reading, and flowing from the
Scriptures that I do read. This shift in the balance will likely mean doing
only some of my Bible reading in the morning; and rather, being intentional
about finding other pockets and rhythms of sitting with God’s Word during the
day – and praying. This both breaks down the rather modern idea of a single
“Quiet Time” as the only deliberate daily time we spend with God, rather
spreading our communion with him more perceptibly throughout the day, and allows plenty of time in that
precious, quiet morning time with Jesus (which I know I need before I
start the day), to listen to him, be still before him, and to pray to him.
Do you have a Bible reading plan for 2019? I'd love to hear what you hope to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment