Dust off that Book

. . . He leads me beside still waters. (Psalm 23:2)

Last year a group of nine Canadian Bible agencies engaged world-class market research company, Angus Reid Strategies, to undertake the Canadian Bible Engagement Study (CEBS). More than 4,500 people across Canada were interviewed and the results revealed that most Canadians are not reading the Bible and not interested in reading it.

Specifically, about one in seven Canadian Christians, or 14%, read the Bible at least once a week, but the majority of Canadians, including those who call themselves Christian, seldom or never read it. Perhaps the reasons are that only 18% strongly agree the Bible is the Word of God (compared to 35% in 1996) and only one in four Christians (23%) strongly agree that the Bible is relevant to modern life.

I’ve not done a formal survey, but it seems that many Christians are strung out, too busy, and thrown into a panic at every threat to their comfort. Like sheep, they are in need of still waters but instead trying to find refreshment in the fast lane of life. They expect or desire rest without realizing that there is no rest apart from the peace that God gives to those who rest in Him.

Our church is doing a series called “Making Choices.” Last week’s bulletin says the sermon today will be called, “The Choice to Rest.” It is a timely topic for all Christians, but I’m amazed again at God’s timing. Here are today’s verses from my devotional booklet.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:22–26)

Waiting can mean asking God for something and then waiting for the answer, but it can also mean sitting quietly in His presence, talking with Him and listening to Him. This means turning off the television, unplugging the ear buds, opening the Bible, and waiting on God with my full attention.

But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love. (Psalm 59:16–17)

Yesterday I was thinking about God’s faithfulness. When I first became a Christian, my sister told me to read the Bible until something jumped out at me, then write down the Scripture portion and the thoughts God put in my head. Since that time more than forty years ago, I cannot remember any days where I did not hear God speak. There were likely some, but the overwhelming reality of God’s faithfulness is evidence of His “steadfast love in the morning.” Hearing from Him is an astonishing blessing to my heart. I could not survive even the ho-hum of my life without Him, never mind make it in the whirlwind world that pressures other peoples. How do they survive without waiting on God and resting in Him?  

My advice for those Christians in the percentage that seldom or never read the Bible is the same as the advice of the psalmist and the example of Jesus . . . “But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.” (Psalm 88:13)  . . .  “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

It is only in reading and listening that anyone can make the connection between today’s life and the Words of the Lord in that old book. It is by resting in the Lord and hearing from Him that our hearts are calm, and like sheep we are fed in lush pastures beside still waters. We should never allow life to push aside our quiet time with God or cause our Bibles to become dusty.

Prayer time . . . part of life

I suppose that a person might try “to stay on the good side” of God so He would answer their prayers, but that is an unrighteous motivation, and smacks of pride. If I were doing that, I’d be setting the standard for “good” and attempting in self-effort to reach it to benefit me. This is vanity.

Besides, righteousness is imputed. I cannot create it. On this the Bible is clear. Jesus took my sin on Himself and died to pay my penalty, but in doing that, God worked out an amazing trade . . .

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

By this wondrous transaction, God changes the lives of all who enter it through faith. Those changes transform our prayer life. Instead of His back being turned, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer . . .” (1 Peter 3:12)

Yesterday I did not keep my regular prayer time, yet enjoyed an entire day of intimacy with God. This can happen because prayer is not about checking off a to-do list. It is about communion with God, and such conversation does not require a special place or posture. God was speaking often. I listened and responded and enjoyed a great sense of His presence.

Today, I’ll return to a regular routine for that also is a blessing. However, I’ve learned some important truths in experiences like yesterday. For instance, early morning is mentioned often, so I’ve supposed that is the best time to pray . . .

O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch . . . I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. (Psalm 5:3–7)

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. (Mark 1:35)

Yet many other verses say God wants to hear from His people at any time or place. He wants my attitude to be like the psalmist who said, “God—you’re my God! I can’t get enough of you! I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts.” (Psalm 63:1, Message) I can pray any time and in any location . . .

Wake up, soul! Wake up, harp! Wake up, lute! Wake up, you sleepyhead sun! I’m thanking you, GOD, out loud in the streets, singing your praises in town and country. (Psalm 57:8–9, Message)

Peter is one example of praying in the middle of the day as described in Acts 10:9. Some men were on their way to see him, and as “they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.”  

This was about noon. Most Christians also pray at bedtime, thanking God for the day, reviewing, and confessing any sin that may have occurred that day. Actually, the Bible says we are to “pray without ceasing” which isn’t as much like those formal times as it is like yesterday was for me.

As the same time, regular prayer is like regular meals. I need it to be spiritually healthy. God warns me not to selfishly focus on my needs all the time. Instead, He turns His face my way when I come to Him mindful of that great and amazing trade — I am righteous and can pray with assurance because of the imputed righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Struggle means amazing conversations with God

One lie that my spiritual enemy uses is that God becomes annoyed with my feeble attempts to live for Him and to pray to Him, so He leaves me and occupies Himself elsewhere. I get more than annoyed at my feeble efforts so it is easy to believe that lie, even stop asking God for help. But Jesus says . . .

What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:11–13)

But this lie concerns more than my prayer life. That old devil also uses it to get me discouraged. He says things like, “You will never learn, never get it right. Your feeble efforts are a joke in the face of God and He is fed up with you and of course you should be fed up with yourself . . .”

Paul knew that Christians get stuck on those kinds of thoughts. He wrote the church at Thessalonica and told them how he and his friends were praying “most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith . . . Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” (1 Thessalonians 3:10–13)

This morning I noted that “He increases my love for others and He establishes holiness in my heart.” I will not be perfect until Jesus comes, but that isn’t the point; the point is that He does it. All my efforts are useless unless I am relying on Him in faith. The sequence is faith > obedience > growth. “Try harder” never enters the equation.

Immediately following this word about being established blameless in holiness, that old liar put the thought in my head, “You? Never!” but that lie didn’t get very far. The very next verse in my devotional booklet was this one . . .

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

I cannot become blameless, but nothing is too hard for God. He is amazing. Whenever I am in any spiritual battle, I can be thankful for Jesus who intercedes for me. He set the example for my prayer life too, making it a priority in His life. He rose up “very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

Prayer is a gift, a privilege. God wants to discuss everything with me. Even these devotional thoughts are a conversation with God. He speaks, the enemy interrupts, and He speaks again with reassurance for me against those lies. He knows every thought, every struggle, every desire, and continually reminds me that He will never leave me or stop loving me. His Word will always be available to guide me through the battlefield of life and answer the attacks of my enemy.

This is why “I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes” and why I am so glad that “God remembers His Word to His servants, in which He has made me hope.” (Psalm 119:47–49)

At times, my scattered mind seems an easy target, but I realize that in the struggle to remember and rely on the promises of God, I am drawn back to Him continually. I need the daily bread He offers, and I need that “pray without ceasing” that He commands. Without the struggles, I’m certain that I would not pray, for the enemy would quickly lie and tell me that I didn’t need God at all.

Sometimes I talk too much . . .

At a small gathering in Calgary, Elizabeth Elliot was asked about time management for busy Christians. She said, “Do the next thing. You always know what it is.” I’ve shared her words with others and some respond with a blank look of incomprehension.

Another quote helps me better understand both Elliot and the blank stares. Dr. E. Stanley Jones said, “The most active persons in the world are the people who become inactive in the Silence.”

Praying is not merely speaking but also listening to God. It is developing an ear for the voice that nudges me to action, an ability to stay connected with the One who promises to lead and guide. This is about faith and expectation, but also about the way of prayer.

Jesus is my example: “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

Paul prayed also, and hints that he’d learned how to pay attention to God’s ways of prompting his prayers . . .  

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers . . .  (Ephesians 1:15–16)

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy . . . (Philippians 1:3–4)

Paul heard about others and prayed for them. He remembered or thought about others and prayed for them. He considered these reminders as nudges from God.

This is how Christians can know that “next thing” and how we can know the will of God and be active in His affairs. Such motivation requires spending time with Him, telling Him the desires of my heart, but more importantly, to finding out the desires of His heart. 

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Note: Occasionally someone comments on this site with a link to their site. Yesterday, it was the member of a cult. Often it is someone trying to promote a product or a service. This is not the purpose of this blog so I do not accept these types of comments. I want to encourage readers to love and follow Jesus, and encourage posts that do that, and that identify with our common human need for peace and forgiveness -- that only He can give.

Getting an Early Start

When my to-do list is long, I’ve learned that if I want to accomplish most of it, I need to do first the most important or challenging item. With that out of the way, the rest seem easy and gets finished more readily. 

Not that spending time with God is always challenging, but I’ve also learned that this needs to be first thing in the day because it is the most important. Hearing from God and getting my spiritual life in order sets the tone for the rest of the day. If I skip that or even procrastinate by doing other things, my attitude suffers. Being out of sorts can even make my family suffer.

There is plenty of evidence in the Bible that meeting God in the morning is a solid principle. Many vital events happened at that time of day, including the first mention of morning: “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” (Genesis 1:5) 

A quick word search showed more than 230 repeats of just the word “morning” and most of them involved profound events, or commands, or obedience to commands. For instance, when Abraham was told to sacrifice his son, he “rose early in the morning” in obedience to this test of faith. (God stopped the act and this man passed the test.) Other passages include this one from the experience of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. God told him to,

Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. (Exodus 34:2)

Other examples abound throughout the Old Testament and into the New. Perhaps the most significant concerns the example of Jesus Christ. Before a busy day of ministry, He rose “very early in the morning, while it was still dark” and left the others, going “to a desolate place, and there He prayed.” (Mark 1:35) 

As I’ve been rereading my spiritual journals, I’ve noted that I put the time of day on some of them. It was early in the morning, much earlier than I now get up for the day. While I can use the excuses that I’m older, or that I’ve had health problems, in reality, I could go to bed earlier and rise “very early in the morning.” Certainly, the days that does happen are marked. Meeting God and giving Him full attention before all else is an expression of an attitude toward His importance in my life and makes a significant impact on my day.

The last place “morning” is mentioned in the Bible is in Revelation. It isn’t about a time of day though, but give a name to the Person that I meet with each day.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” (Revelation 22:16)

Perhaps this last use of the word “morning” suggests why this is the best part of the day to meet with God.

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Lord, I’ve been thinking about setting my alarm a little earlier for a few reasons, but this is the best reason. I know that meeting with You can happen later and You are certainly available to talk with any time of the day. However, if I have made sleeping or doing anything else more important than You, then I need to rise up earlier as a spiritual discipline. It is a great way to make sure that my priorities are right and also to let You rightly set the tone for the rest of the day.