SO MAYBE I WILL MAKE JUST ONE RESOLUTION!

 

As usual, one of my biggest laments every single year, is the inconsistency of my Bible reading and study.  I KNOW that consistently being in God’s Word is the thing that keeps me close to Him, attentive to His “voice”, and sensing His presence and activity in my life and the world around me.  However, like every other good thing, I have such a hard time actually DOING it! 

My wonderful husband gave me the perfect gift this Christmas.  Sometime before the holiday I told him that for a donation to the ministry of Dr. David Jeremiah, we could get his study Bible and a yearly devotional. And he was listening! 

Just yesterday, on January 2, I found this quote by Dr. Jeremiah in the daily devotional reading:

Resolve in the New Year to be a gleaner of the Word of God, letting no morsel of truth go undigested.  In this way you will never go spiritually hungry.

I know about spiritual hunger.  It’s that empty feeling that sets into my soul when I allow too much busyness to crowd out time in God’s Word. At first I don’t notice much, but then the Lord starts to seem awfully far away, His voice is silent, and I find myself moving through my days without giving Him a single thought.  Terrible to admit, but true.

It’s not that I don’t have time.  Do you know what I DID do this year?  In January of 2013, I set a goal for myself to read 40 books, 15 of them non-fiction. I felt a huge sense of satisfaction to surpass it this year.  If I have time for all those other books, how can I be so inconsistent in reading God’s book?

Before I even read Dr. Jeremiah’s quote I had given thought to doing things differently in this New Year.  I thought that if I could challenge myself to read ordinary books, maybe I could challenge myself to read the Bible more faithfully as well.

When I read a book of the Bible, or even a daily reading, I always note the date in the margin. So I went through my Bible, noting the day on which I last began reading a particular book.   I made a list of the books I hadn’t read in a long time.  I ended up with six Old and six New Testament books on that list.  So, in my journal, on the first page of each month I’ll post that list and I’ll work myself through those 12 books in addition to my usual reading challenge.

Another thing I’m challenging myself to do is to take notes in a document on my computer.  I summarize the chapter I’m reading, look for attributes of God and list them, writing down lessons for my own life that I see there, and challenge myself to apply them.

When I have done this sort of thing before (usually in a notebook), my own reading and study become “food” for feeding others in a Bible study at church or when I speak at a women’s group.  Pretty exciting stuff! 

My writing becomes a launch pad for prayer as well as I pray my way through what God reveals about Himself and how it applies to my life.  I also record my prayers for the people and situations the Lord has laid on my heart.

I’ve only been at this three days.  All church activities have been on hold because of the holidays, and we just had a snow storm, so not a lot is competing for my time.  The real test will be how consistent I remain when everything is going full speed ahead again!  But I’m going to try.

I’m going to try and be a better gleaner of the Word of God – not just picking the low hanging fruit – but reaching higher so that no morsel of truth goes undigested. 

I don't ever want to go hungry when the kind of food that truly feeds my soul is so readily available.