What fruitful habits do you have for spending time with God? Are there personal patterns in your relationship with Him through prayer, Bible study or other means? Note that I write “fruitful” instead of “enjoyable” because although we’d like to enjoy every moment with God, as our Father He sometimes has to tell us things we won’t like immediately. As Jesus said in John 15:2 – “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
One example of a fruitful habit for me has been to study more than one book of the Bible at a time. What do I mean by this? For example, I currently have a goal to read 1-2 chapters each of the Psalms and the Pentateuch[1] daily, along with study Bible notes. The idea came from a recent sermon, where the 5 books of Psalms were described as similar in theme to the 5 books of the Pentateuch. Shortly after, I read that: “Just as Genesis tells how mankind was created, fell into sin, and was then promised redemption, many of these psalms [book 1, or Psalms 1-41] discuss humans as blessed, fallen, and redeemed by God.”[2] With a little work, I was able to map out a schedule lining up the Psalm readings with the other readings and I’m trying to follow it. Reading different parts together can help make connections I wouldn’t otherwise. One connection recently led me to post about frustration with my cat and how it relates to Noah and the ark.
At other times, I’ve been reading a Gospel along with the Psalms, or one of the prophets because changing the pattern over time helps reveal unexpected context or connections. I wouldn’t talk to a friend the same way over and over again, so why do it with God? Years ago, when reading Psalm 46:10 and Matthew 21:15-16 on the same day led to a stark reminder that God is worthy of, and will receive, all praise. These are those verses that nailed the point home:
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
“But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”
I know I can’t require God to speak to me in a certain way, but these occasional “accidents” from different parts of Scripture have reinforced each other in ways I might have never seen or might even have resisted. Sometimes, we might prefer to keep certain truths away from certain parts of our lives, but when we make time to be quiet, listen and allow different parts of God’s word to collide in ways we didn’t expect, we may uncover an encouragement or a challenge that bears fruit.
What creative and fruitful habits do you have for spending time with God?
[1] The first five books of the Bible, sometimes called the books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) [2] Life Application Study Bible, introduction to the Psalms.
In a commonly quoted Bible verse, the prophet Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” But who was Jeremiah talking to and what were God’s plans at that time? God was about to exile Israel from the Promised Land and take away all of their cherished (and God-given) political and religious institutions. Jerusalem and the temple would be torn down and burned by the Babylonians, while God would tell the Jews to love their brutal enemy, and to be a blessing to them[1], contributing to the prosperity of the Babylonian kingdom. After 70 years of exile, Jerusalem and the temple would be rebuilt, but disappointing: “many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid”.[2]
This is not the plan I would wish on any of us, but it was God’s will at the time, to discipline His people. Clearly, God has different plans for each one of us – specific to us and not a photocopy of specific Biblical people or situations.
The prophet Isaiah provides an excellent picture of how God cares for individuals. Right after declaring that God would lay a new cornerstone, a new foundation, in Zion[3] (later revealed to be Jesus), he declares in Isaiah 28:23-26:
“Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech. Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground? When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border? For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him.”
Isaiah describes how a farmer works diligently with God-given wisdom to plant his crops. The farmer does things step by step, plowing, then sowing each plant according to its kind. Some crops grow best in rows, and some are suitable as borders. Everything is in its time and place. Isaiah then continues with verses 27-29:
“Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod. Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it. This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.”
Here, some crops need to be threshed or even crushed, but other crops do not. All of the farmer’s work is done with God’s wisdom. Yet is Isaiah only concerned with crops? No, because the context in Isaiah is a story of Judah’s discipline, followed by a restoration. Just as a farmer’s wisdom in dealing with crops is from God, in the same way God knows how to deal with His people skillfully, to each as needed.
The Reformation Study Bible notes on verse 29: “Yet the Lord is wiser than any good farmer…and knows exactly the methods to use to cultivate His harvest—when to judge and when to restore His people.” As different grains need to be planted and treated differently, so God treats each person according to His own intentions for them and to their own needs. After laying the cornerstone of Jesus Christ, God, like a farmer, knows how to deal with each of His people individually, giving each exactly what they need when they need it, building His family diligently, step by step, and with infinite wisdom.
Therefore, when Jeremiah says: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope,” he declares the general principle that for each of us, God has a plan, a future, and a hope. The Lord delivers us from evil and provides for our welfare in eternity for all time, after our sojourn in this world is complete.
For every meal, thank a farmer, but for every opportunity to grow in Christ, in good times and in bad, thank the Lord for His wisdom in dealing with you as an individual. Only He, as Creator, knows best how we are broken and how we are intended to be.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 1:6
Saint Augustine wrote in his Confessions “for it is one thing to see the land of peace from a wooded ridge….and another to tread the road that leads to it.” Often along that road we get stuck in a rut, but what is a rut?
According to Dictionary.com, “rut” is a noun meaning: “a furrow or track in the ground, especially one made by the passage of a vehicle or vehicles” or “a fixed or established mode of procedure or course of life, usually dull or unpromising: to fall into a rut.”
The second meaning comes from the first, earlier meaning. On dirt roads, vehicles create a rut along a repeated path, and the vehicles that come after find it easier to follow the path of least resistance. Therefore, without someone intervening and repairing the road, the rut gets deeper and its harder for any vehicle to avoid the rut. The second meaning is a metaphor of people doing the same thing. It’s easier to do what others have done before, or to continue what you’ve already done before, especially if repeated for a long period of time.
However, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25)
The Diversity of Ruts Over time, I have found many ruts to get stuck in. In my earliest memories I was already in a rut of passive Christianity, going through rituals that didn’t mean much to me. As a young adult, I was in a different rut as a visibly vibrant church member, doing things like leading Bible studies and worship services. Later, I was in a rut of private faith, studying the Bible and praying nearly every day but rarely talking to anyone else about it. At other times I’ve been ruts of tribalism, comfortable practicing religion as acceptable to “my tribe,” whether a political tribe, a denominational one, or many others.
There were times in my life where I looked like a Christian but wasn’t, and also times where I was a Christian but didn’t look like one. There were times where some people approved, and there were times when other people approved.
Much of what I’ve done has been potentially “good,” at least in appearance, but in all cases there was always something not quite right with it. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote that “There was an Eden on this very unhappy Earth. We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature at its best and least corrupted, its gentlest and most humane, is still soaked with the sense of ‘exile.’” We’re stuck somewhere we’re not meant to stay. Each of our experiences is different, and the wrong paths I’ve been on are not always the same wrong paths you’ve been on, and what was wrong for me might be right for you. But for many of us, ruts are comfortable.
When people, like vehicles following a rut in the road, follow others, it doesn’t “feel” risky. But when in a rut, new ground is never uncovered, and new paths are never found. There is no fruit of the Spirit from staying in a rut, doing something because someone else did it or because it feels “normal.” God’s people grow in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”[1] as they find and follow His path for them, not by accident, by routine, or by doing nothing.
What may be less obvious is that the right path I should be on is not the same path you should be on. As I’ve written, “Each of us is an intricate matrix of beliefs, at different levels of truth and of conviction on every possible topic.” We all try to follow the same Shepherd, but we’re all in different places and He has different paths for all of us. A person can be a passionate, sincere believer with characteristics from any or all of what were my ruts, while I may by grace have avoided the ruts of others.
Compelling, Clear, and Charitable Why am I writing this? I picked up a few new followers this week, thanks to a post of mine being shared by Mitch Teemley (please visit his amazing blog!) and wanted to publicly thank him and to welcome any new readers!
Here, inspired by Ephesians 4:15, I try to write posts that are “Compelling, Clear, and Charitable” as explained in this earlier post. I try to write posts that “stir up my readers to love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24).
It’s easy to use doctrine to criticize. Luke 13:26 and elsewhere criticize public faith if done incorrectly, while Matthew 6:4, 6:6, 6:18 and elsewhere describe sincere religion as private, done in secret. Politically, God’s people were exiled from the Promised Land because they used God’s institutions for their own purposes, but in exile were told to honor God in ways that benefit the nations they lived among.
Likewise, the people in the many ruts I’ve been in are often in conflict with each other. For example, “visible” Christians can get frustrated with “private” Christians, and in fact make it more difficult for them to get out of it. Strangely, I find myself often in conflict with past and current versions of myself.
If I write about a situation that feels like one you’re currently in, you might get offended because to you it’s not a rut. It might be your true path. Or you might be offended because the rut is comfortable and too deep to see out of. It’s sometimes easier to see someone else’s rut than your own, especially if you’re in the same ditch together. The ditch may be comfortable to both of the people in it.
Because of this diversity of ruts, being charitable is harder than being clear or compelling, but it is infinitely more important. On the other hand, on a blog where I don’t know many of my readers, charity at a personal level can be impossible.
Now, Not Yet We must try. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commands God’s people to “make disciples of all nations.” We all experience failure on this mission, but the only way to guarantee failure is to not try at all. If I an Compelling and Clear here, I might have succeeded, but at something other than discipleship, for myself and for you. If we have not love, we are nothing. In addition, Proverbs 27:17 describes discipleship as “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” This verse is sometimes quoted with a smile as if it’s always rainbows and sunshine, but the verse is describing the violence of one piece of metal scraping bits off another piece of metal. In the metaphor of this post, it might be describing the work needed to dig out of a deep rut. Here, I make a humble attempt to make a better disciple of myself, but also to (hopefully charitably) share what I’ve learned in a way that helps others find their own path that is not a rut.
Even blogging may become a rut for me – it might have already – but it helps me move out of past ruts. The path of comfort and of least resistance is appealing. The temptation to create a new path defined by resistance to my past ruts is also appealing. I may steer clear of Scylla and crash headlong into Charybdis.[2] For now, I take comfort that God has used my past ruts to teach me what I didn’t know at the time and wouldn’t have learned otherwise, and that Paul encourages us all to use whatever diverse gifts we have: “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” – Romans 12:6-8
When we arrive finally in the eternity we have been craving, Jesus will completely and finally pull all His people out of their ruts, and each will blaze their own perfect trail as an untainted bearer of His image. Future me (and future you) will all be vibrant members of God’s family, constantly worshiping God in private prayer and public work, while perfectly manifesting the political Kingdom of God in a new heaven and new earth. While the road between here and there is full of ruts, God is faithful and will get us there. He promises that every rut we currently are stuck in is temporary, and also that in eternity the path of righteousness we should be on will be as easy and comfortable as our current ruts promise to be but fail to deliver on. The good we did imperfectly in this world will be done perfectly there.
“And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” – Revelation 21:21
For Rewind Wednesday, check out the post linked below from November 2021, a quote from the book “Reading the Times”, by Jeffrey Bilbro. In this quote, Bilbro compares Gandalf from J.R.R. Tolkien’s books to an Old Testament prophet. I highly recommend the book, which is about keeping an eternal perspective when reading the daily news, rather than letting the news sweep us along with the tide of current events.
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 