Devotional Reading (4)

 

Whiston writes:

 

“Certain analogies will throw revealing and helpful light upon this mood, which is so necessary in devotional reading.  First, there is the analogy of coming to know and appreciate great works of art.  No passing and hurried glance at a great painting, as we stroll down the corridors of an art gallery, will ever suffice to reveal to us the richness and secret message of any painting.  It is necessary that we sit down in quietude, and limit our attention to a single painting, and sit humbly before it and let it act upon us.  It is the painting, which is the active agent, and not we.  The painting is subject: we are object. We must let the painting act upon us and in us. Furthermore, no single visit will be sufficient.  Many, repeated visits to the same painting are required even to begin to receive its revelations.  We must wait patiently and humbly until the painting reveals in its own time and way its richness to us.

 

“So it is with the devotional reading of this book.  We shall need to read and reread it over many years; to sit quietly in its presence, and reading, to let it reveal its truths to us.”

 

What Whiston writes about our approach to Fenelon’s writings in Christian Perfection (let’s keep in mind that the title is not Fenelon’s), is even more true of the Bible. Why? Because the Bible is unique among all writings, while God does speak to us through what men and women write today, He has Spoken in and through, and continues to Speak in and through, the Bible, the Scriptures, the holy Word of God. I hope that God will speak to you through what I write; I know that God will Speak to you through the Bible, and I know of no other way to communicate the Gospel than by basing what I write and speak on the Bible, and I hope that my quotation of the Bible and referencing the Bible points people to the Bible, to the Christ of the Bible and to the Holy Spirit who breathed the Word through various men in different languages over centuries in many historical settings.

 

We are called to read the Scriptures (1 Tim. 4:13), to study the Scriptures (2 Tim. 2:15), and to meditate on the Scriptures (Psalm 1:2). These are three legs of a stool and at any given time we ought to be meditating, studying, and reading. Reading is akin to driving through an area at a reasonable speed to get to know the area. Studying is like taking a slow walk down a street, paying attention to the houses, the architecture, the trees and landscaping, the colors, the hardscapes. Meditating is sitting on a park bench with coffee and a pastry, and maybe even with some birdseed and peanuts for the squirrels and  friends who are feathered, as you people watch and soak in your surroundings. 

Sitting on the bench means that time passes by but not your surroundings, your surroundings enter into you and you enter into them. Hours after you leave the park bench you can still return to it in your mind and imagination, you can still recall it a week later, a month later, perhaps ten years later. When you drove by the park bench in the weeks and months before sitting on it, it didn’t mean much to you, but once you sat on it for an hour or two that bench would never be the same to you – now when you drive by it you recall when the park came to you and surrounded you and invited you to experience it – to taste it, to feel it, to sense it. The park has remained with you and you have remained with it.

 

Reading the Bible devotionally is when the text absorbs us and we absorb the text. To borrow an image from C. S. Lewis, devotional reading is when we go through the wardrobe and enter into the Biblical text; in Christ it is when we “go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9), it is when our Good Shepherd makes us lie down in green pastures and leads us beside tranquil waters (Psa. 23:2). To borrow another image from Lewis, it is when we go “further up and further in” and with Reepicheep, “take the adventure that Aslan gives us.” For devotional reading is indeed an adventure with Christ and in Christ – it is when Jesus Christ unveils Himself through His holy Word.

 

And this is one reason why making intellectual noise with “trying to figure things out” gets in our way of receiving Christ, for we must submit ourselves to Him, and that means our minds, hearts, and our wills – it means sitting at the feet of the Master and being taught by Him and responding to Him, by His enabling grace, in obedience. It means being quiet and waiting and looking for Him…always looking for Him as we ponder and meditate on His Word. We have an assurance that He will always be with us, that He will never leave us or forsake us; and let me say that He desires to be with us each and every day, far more than we want to be with Him – consider that He gave His life for us, to be with us – so that we might live in the holy Trinity. Do we realize how much God loves us?

 

Christ Jesus isn’t interested in giving us answers so that we can play spiritual trivial pursuit, He desires to give us Himself. He isn’t interested in teaching us to be the greatest of all, He desires to teach us to be the sacrificial servants of all. Jesus isn’t going to give us fancy hood ornaments for lifestyles of glitz and glitter, He is going to give us His Cross…a Cross stained by His own blood.

 

Devotional reading of the Bible is a lifetime experience and ushers us into eternity, its wonders never cease for Christ Jesus is revealed through those wonders, and He is the unifying Wonder. Devotional reading is like the air hose of the deep-sea diver – we need it to survive in a hostile environment – Christ through His Word is our Divine oxygen.

 

Whiston has another helpful analogy that we’ll consider in our next post in this series.