Devotional Reading (5)

 

Whiston writes:

 

“Another helpful analogy is that of the farmer and his seed.  The farmer places his seed in the ground.  He then knows that great and mysterious powers and energies must act upon it.  Rain, sun, air, soil—all these work together to bring about the slow processes of germination and growth.  Long before any visible action occurs above ground, there is the sinking downward into the soil of the tap-root, upon which the later growth and harvest will depend. All of this prior, underground work is hidden from the sight of man, going on in the darkness.  Only after this hidden work is accomplished does there then appear above ground the green shoot.  Only after weeks and perhaps months will the harvest come.

 

“Devotional reading is farming, the sowing of word—seeds in the ground of the mind and spirit, with no expectation that the harvest is to be reaped at once.  The word-seeds must have time to germinate, sink tap-roots deep into the mind and heart.  The harvest of the word-seeds sown to-day may not come until years later.  The harvest will come when least we expect it, and always with the note of being a revelation given to us from God, and not the work of our own minds.”

 

How do we respond to the long-term perspective in this analogy? Does it challenge us? If so, how does it do so?

 

I would add to the analogy that soil preparation is important, as is weeding, pest control, disease control, and fertilization as we cultivate our lives in Christ and as Christ cultivates His life within us. I am reminded of Yahweh’s Word to Joshua:

 

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that it written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” (Joshua 1:8; see also Psalm 1:2 – 3).

 

Whiston tells us that “the farmer places his seed in the ground.” What is the most obvious is perhaps the most challenging for us, what I mean is that while we may all have Bibles not all of us read our Bibles, not all of us know our Bibles. When I write of knowing our Bibles I am writing in the most basic sense of “knowing”; knowing what Obadiah is about, knowing the general scope of Isaiah, knowing what we can expect to find in 1 Chronicles, knowing the general content of Acts, knowing the basic flow of Ephesians.

 

And should someone say, “Well, I just don’t know the entire Bible in that fashion,” I would gently say, “That’s fine for now, tell us about some books of the Bible that you do know.” What do you think the average response would be to my request?

 

James writes that we are to “in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). Now then, is the saving of our souls important enough for us to receive God’s Word? Am I making too big a deal of reading, meditating on, and receiving the Bible? Let’s also consider the Parable of the Sower and the Seed (Matthew 13:3ff; Mark 4:3ff; Luke 8:4ff) and the emphasis that Jesus places on the soil receiving the seed – consider that all three synoptic Gospels include this parable – is this not important?

 

While devotional writing has its place, while sermons have their place, while written Bible studies and commentaries have their place; nothing should take the place of us directly reading and receiving the Word of God, the Bible, as it is written – and trusting the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus and draw us to the Father in and through the Scriptures. This ought to be true of us as individuals and true of us as a People – for we certainly need one another to see the glories of the Bible – we are the Body of Christ.

 

Whiston writes of “the slow processes of germination and growth.” We don’t much care for this idea of “slow processes.” We want our tomatoes and we want them now! We want our apple trees to produce apples now! We want Sunday school material that doesn’t demand too much and which gives us instant pragmatic gratification. We want sermons which entertain us, make us feel good, and give us permission to live on the surface of life – not investing ourselves in discipleship, witness, and cultivation of the Word in our souls.

 

Whiston continues, “All of this prior, underground work is hidden from the sight of man, going on in the darkness.  Only after this hidden work is accomplished does there then appear above ground the green shoot.  Only after weeks and perhaps months will the harvest come.”

 

The work of the Word of God is a deeply hidden work, “piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12b). This does not mean that there are not immediate manifestations of the Word in our lives, but it does mean that there is a long-term subterranean working of the Holy Spirit deep within us, a working which we may sense (or may not!) but rarely understand – for who but God truly knows who we are in the depth of our being? (See Psalm 139).

 

Here is a word of warning, we are called to behold Jesus Christ and be transformed into His image, we are not called to contemplate ourselves. This is not to say that, by God’s grace, we don’t examine ourselves as individuals and as a People, but it is not to be our primary occupation – and if we make ourselves the focus of our contemplation we will descend into a gnostic abyss. Sad (tragic?) to say, but it is likely that there are some assessment tools within the professing church which are, at best, borderline occult. These tools may appeal to our pragmatism and curiosity and selflove, but they are not focused on the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ.

 

Were Paul to use a self-assessment tool, and thereby gravitate away from his weaknesses and toward his natural abilities, it is doubtful that Paul would be able to write, “And He [Jesus] has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” (2 Cor. 12:9).

 

This idea of God’s work being “hidden from the sight of man” can be hard for us to swallow, accept, and teach in a society and professing church looking at appearances. When I was pastoring, my mailbox and inbox were full of advertising from “Christian” organizations promising church growth, higher attendance, more offerings…if only I would buy into their latest and greatest program. How many conferences and seminars are promoted every year, promising to produce numerical results in local churches and denominations – and to do so quickly! Where are teachings and conferences designed to deepen our lives in Christ and with one another? Who is promoting hidden and sustained growth in Christ and with one another in Him? Where are we making disciples for a lifetime?

 

“He who tills his land will have plenty of bread…” (Proverbs 12:11). The central beauty of devotional reading of the Bible is the beauty of Jesus Christ, it is koinonia with the Trinity. A fruit of this koinonia is bread both for now and for tomorrow – for Christ Jesus is our heavenly manna (John 6:32 – 35, 50 – 51). When we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are most especially looking to partake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

We will return to Whiston in the next post in this series.