Blessed Are Those Who Finish The Chapter - Kat 34:12

Posted on 01.29.07 in Faith and there are 7 comments.

This post could probably go one of two directions;

1. It could be profoundly funny and comforting to all who read it.
2. It could be really awkward and you’ll feel sorry for me and my lack of spiritual depth.

So, on that note…

Sometimes I feel like my quiet time resembles one of those “World’s Strongest Man” competitions. You know what I’m talking about, that show that’s on ESPN2 with large scandanavian men competing against one another to see who can life the big rock and carry it the farthest...or do the most reps with a small car on his back.

It seems that whenever they complete a challenge they’re red faced, struggling, shaking, trying to eek out one more second or one more inch or one more rep. When they’ve finally reached their end they dramatically drop the weight and lift their arms in triumph, sometimes followed by chest beating and a nice gutteral roar.

Maybe I’m ADD, I don’t know. What I do know is that I have far too many quiet times where I’m just struggling, red faced, shaking trying to eek out the chapter.

Why?

Do I think God and the angels are in heaven saying, “Whew! I didn’t think she was actually going to finish that chapter.  It’s a good thing she did, though, since the future of mankind depends on it. That was a close one.”

Do I think that somehow, based on the “Spiritual-O-Meter” my day will be drastically better because I read through to verse 52? Do my guardian angels get the day off if I stop at verse 51?

Now, I don’t actually drop my Bible and raise my arms in triumph. And I certainly don’t do any chest beating or roaring.

I think that would frighten my children.

But I have a feeling that God would prefer it if I only read one verse (gasp) and really sat with Him, listened and prayed about it rather than trying to cram every verse on my “Read Through The Bible In Three Years” list (I know I’m an under achiever).

Anyway, there you go...my thought for the day.

If you can relate at all, please comment. If you feel sorry for me and my lack of spiritual depth...please comment and lie. (not really...see....I clearly need help here.)

The Comments:

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Well heck yes I can relate. I think you are right about the sitting with God in silence thing.  It is a lost art to listen to God.  Sometimes he doesn’t speak when we want Him to and I think He wants you to wait.  OR it could be that He is always speaking and we just have to quiet ourselves enough to hear it. 

Anything can drown that voice out.  To many bible verses, praise music, ...

Have you ever done any repetitive prayer before your actual prayer?  Sometimes when the A.D.D. fires are especially hot, I say this one particular chant over and over a couple of hundred times emphaising different words and meditating one each word and each meaning.  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on my soul”

This brilliant Christian apologist/author introduced it to me on a visit to my universtiy years ago and it is has been effective at times. But different strokes for different folks. 

Anywho, some rambling there…

10 p.m.?  You’re an evenin devoter?

I do mornin.  And ya, sometimes I fall asleep wading through Chronicles.

Yes!  I can relate.  Although it sounds like you’ve hung in there longer than I did.  A few years ago I started reading through the gospels, but I read them like a story.  I completely ignored chapter and verse, and just read what seemed logical to read.  Some days I read three verses, some days I read three chapters, some days I never read at all. It was a much more meaningful experience for me than reading a chapter a day ever was.  Since then, I’ve given up the thought of reading the Bible in any sort of predetermined time frame.

I don’t think I have ever in my LIFE read every single day for more than a week.  There’s something about the “I have to” feeling that sucks all life out of prayer and quiet times.  On my best weeks, I probably read 4 days out of 7.  On my worst, I read 3-4 days out of the month.

Somehow I still think God likes us both.

There is something about having a plan, a schedule, that helps us and motivates us to do what we want and intend to do.  There is also something about having a plan, a schedule, that makes us feel a slave and want to rebel against that plan we accepted.  A bizarre dichotomy, but I believe it to be fundamentally true.

In my Bible study, I find that some days I can read two or three chapters in a short period, absorbing the whole of the story, energetically and enthusiastically.  Some days, a single verse or paragraph will catch me and I spend hours thinking on it.  Some days, it is all I can do to remember God, much less take time to study His word, as I struggle with something (selfishness, time constraints, etc.).  The one commonality throughout these periods is the journal I keep, recording my prayers and my thoughts of scripture.  On the days where the verses fly by, I record the panoramic view of His word He has given me.  On the days when a verse captivates me, I write what profound things I see there and how it fits into the overall plan of God for my life and others lives.  On those struggling days, the journal is a cathartic conversation with my Lord - a dialog on paper between me and my God.

I would have to say that nothing has done more for my personal spiritual growth than the time I have spent journaling His words to me and mine to Him.

Kat, sounds like you struck a chord with all of us- I read only one chapter a day as well, and it’s funny how few people I know from church read that little- I told them I only do one chapter so that I’m forced to learn something from it rather than just skim through stuff that may be very important for me, and instead focusing on some key phrases in other chapters, telling me what I want to hear.

But indeed some chapters just don’t have that ‘good read’ element to them.  I trudge on, like you do, so I can finish it for the day and not leave it half read.  And I wonder if I’ll ever be able to get anything out of it.  Sometimes, though, I’m surprised- I find something that just spoke to me in some odd way and I know the spirit was working through the word.  Other times, I feel like “at least I can say I finished”, as you said. 

To me, it’s all good!

Hey Kat, don’t know if you are checking this down here, but I was reading some church history tonight and it turns out that Prayer is actually called “The Jesus Prayer” It originated in the 3rd Century and was used by early Christians to quiet their restless hearts and minds so that they could focus on the presence of God in their lives.

Not that it will help you through Leviticus, but I read that tonight and thought it was pretty neat.

Seth,
I’m really glad I wrote this post because I’ve gotten some really refreshing ideas that have significantly impacted my time with God in the mornings.

Thanks for the info on “The Jesus Prayer” - it’s especially encouraging to know that it’s not just my technology, information overload self that deals with trying to focus my heart and mind, but the church dealt with it even back in the 3rd century…

(ironically my word veri is church64)

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