Changing Up My Quiet Time
Like many of you, I have followed an annual Bible reading regimen, usually through the entire Bible in one year in some way or another. As last year ended and I was completing my program once again, I realized I wasn’t wanting to do it again in 2022.. It has been a standard practice of mine during most of the last 20 years. I’ve used The One Year Bible, the Bible in 90 days, or four chapters a day for a year, or the “Five Days a Week” plan, or the Chronological plan, or the “Ten Lists” plan, and this year I used R. M. M’Cheyne’s annual plan, along with D. A. Carson’s For the Love of God devotional accompaniment for that plan. I highly recommend each of them. As much as I have benefitted from the constant input of the whole text of the Bible, I came to the conclusion that I needed to change things up. I’m now half a month into my new routine, and I want to share why this is proving to be a refreshment to my soul.
As I completed my plan for 2021, I was grateful that the practice of daily Bible reading has become well-established and guarded. However, it’s one thing to do the work, but another to have that work do something in me. Too many days, much of the content didn’t stick. I’d read (or listen to) four chapters or more, but within a few minutes of finishing, I wouldn’t be thinking about it and often couldn’t recall too much of what I’d read. I’d moved on to the next part of my devotions or to the next matter before me. At bedtime, I’d try to remember what I’d read that morning, but often was unable to recall the morning’s section. Now, continually taking in lots of Scripture is always a good thing. Constant, continuous exposure has tremendous benefits. But I began to wonder if my reading was regularly drawing me closer to the Lord, or if it had become something I did mainly because it was “good for me.” I know I need discipline, but I need dependence on the Lord and his Word even more. I decided I wanted to go after that dependence, without sacrificing the importance of regular daily practice.
“Reading your Bible shouldn’t only be about demonstrating your discipline, but developing your dependence.”
So, what I’ve done this year is to gather a number of resources that look at various shorter passages in daily portions or collections.
First, I listen to a short passage from a plan on the Dwell app. The “Protestant” Listening Plan follows the lectionary—a collection of short daily readings for each day or season in the traditional church calendar. It is a way to begin my day hearing God’s Word.
Then, I turn to three written resources. The first is an older devotional guide called Daily Light on the Daily Path, originally published by Samuel Bagster, a London publisher, in 1875. My version was released by Anne Graham Lotz, but there are dozens of others. It collects a number of verses around a theme established by the first verse. Often the verses progress through that theme. Each morning and evening there is one set of verses. I read the verses for that particular morning or evening, see if I can trace the theme, and then choose one of the verses to make a prayer to the Lord. Daily Light on the Daily Path is available from Christian bookstores or Amazon.com.
Next is a daily email devotional from Alistair Begg, available from Truth for Life. Begg does what many other devotional writers do, give a passage and then offer an application. I’ve always appreciated Begg’s teaching, and this is a good source for teaching as well as encouragement toward action. Go to truthforlife.org to sign up for the email.
Finally, I open a daily email from Ken Boa’s Reflections Ministries. Boa’s ministry is all about using the Scriptures for spiritual development and prayer. In this email, he leads the reader through scripture-shaped prayers and then reading one chapter in a yearly list of 365 key chapters in the Bible. He offers a devotional comment and then closes with a weekly memory verse. You can use all of this email (I do) or the parts that are especially helpful for you. Go to kenboa.org, and at the bottom of the welcome page is the sign up for the “Daily Growth” email
All of this may sound like a lot, but it really doesn’t take much time to accomplish most days, and I want to take my time in the passages before me. I also have my prayer journal, but I’ll talk about that another time. I’m not sharing this as anything more than a personal story and possible suggestion for others. Any part of this could be used with great profit to your soul.
So, why am I writing this now? Well, I wanted to get into my new plan for a few weeks and see if it was helping my dependence upon the Lord and his Word. I’m encouraged to say that it is. Once again, God’s sovereign orchestration is evident as the themes and passages I’m reading are so often directly applicable to matters I’m facing in that moment.
I’m also writing in case you may have started a devotional plan that is proving to be too much for you. Perhaps you are using a model that you’ve used for a long time, but you are not sensing that it is helping you draw nearer to the Lord. I’m not saying you should quit your plan and do what I do, but I want to remind you that you have options and freedom. Other than encouraging us to feed constantly on the Word, God has not given us biblical commands related to how much or how long we must read, or how it is to be done. We want to hear the Lord speak to us in the Bible. Sometimes that may require a lot of text; sometimes a little.
Perhaps this comes to you and you have let the practice of daily time in God’s Word lapse. Let me encourage you to take just one of the things I have mentioned in my new set of practices and get started. You don’t have to wait until next January! I’d rather you spend two minutes in God’s Word and another minute or two reflecting on it and praying it to God than do nothing!
Whatever you do, find a plan for taking in the Bible’s spiritual food so that you hear and respond. Do as much (or as little) as is helpful to make you ever more dependent on that Word and its Giver.
