You DO have time for Bible Study!

This entry is part 1 of 8 in the series You DO Have Time for Bible Study

 

how to fit devotion into your busy schedule - create the lifelong habit of bible study, for women who don't think they have the time to sit at the feet of Jesus

I was over at a fellow mama’s house the other day.  We have very similar families (eerily similar families). She is a wonderful mama to her kids and loves her husband just like she did when they got married.  We have similar outlooks on lots of parenting questions.  We both love the Lord.  Truly, we are incredibly similar.  And yet, as I was stepping out the door to leave, she said something to me I certainly didn’t agree with.

We were talking about Bible study.  And she said she really loves to do Bible study and loves being involved in a good study with others, but she really doesn’t have the time to do a study at this season in her life.

It made me stop short.  And I didn’t have anything to say for a moment.

Honestly, it is really hard to say these things, but these are the things I wish I had said in that moment.

Nobody does. And…

Everybody does.

As I continued to think about this, I realized devotion to real Bible studies (not bite-sized “inspirations”, not Facebook-liking some Bible quote) is getting more and more rare in the business of our lives.  We have Bible study on our list of to-dos, but it is at the bottom, almost an afterthought. We have convinced ourselves there is a season in which we will have the time to sit at the feet of Jesus and soak up the goodness of His words.  And what’s more, we have convinced ourselves this season (whatever season we are in) is not it.

Sweet friend, this is what I have to say about that:

If you are waiting for a season when you have free time to do Bible study, it will never come.

You see, even the Word of God itself tells you it must be sought out.  It must be searched.  It must be tried and tested.  Which tells us we must be intentional about how we approach it.  The Word of God will not open itself up and download its contents into your head and your heart.  Rather, you must seek for the wisdom found in its pages by physically opening it and diligently searching it out.

I was reading Proverbs the other day and this verse jumped out to me:

“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made fat.” ~Proverbs 13:4

And in the context of Proverbs, one could be tempted to think this is in regards to work and finances, those sorts of things.  But the context of Proverbs, a book of wisdom, could also lend itself to understanding it in the context of wisdom itself.  If we are sluggish about searching out wisdom (even if it is something we want), we won’t get it.  BUT, if we are diligent about seeking wisdom, we will get it in big fat measures.

The Benefits of Bible Study

The men of the Old Testament knew they had to be intentional about their relationship to God and His Word.  The testimony of the word of God about Ezra was:

“For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD, and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” ~Ezra 7:10

As a result of his diligent study he was called, “learned in the words of the commandments of the LORD and His statutes to Israel” (Ezra 7:11).  And he was able to do mighty things because of his relationship with God, centered on His Word.

The author of Psalm 119 spoke of the blessing of seeking the Word of God,

How blessed are those whose way is blameless,

Who walk in the law of the LORD.

How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,

Who seek them with all their heart.  ~Psalm 119:1-2

Daniel, too, had pondered the Word of God and it had confused him.  So he sought the Lord regarding what was a mystery to him.  He sought it diligently and wholeheartedly.   At the end of 3 weeks, he saw an angel who said these words to him:

Do not be afraid, Daniel for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. ~Daniel 10:12

Did you notice what the angel said about Daniel?  He “set his heart on understanding this and humbling” himself before God?  The “this” he was seeking to understand was a passage from God’s word from Jeremiah (Dan. 9:2) that was then followed by a Word from God through an angel, which he still didn’t understand.  So, he set his heart on understanding the Word from God.  And he didn’t stop seeking until he got the answer he was looking for.

NOTE: Daniel and the Old Testament saints had a special revelation from angels which we do not receive today.  For further insight into this, read Hebrews 1. 

The Basics of Bible Study

Have you struggled with making time to seek wisdom from the Word of God? Have you longed for it, but messed up on the follow through?

I have encouragement for you today!  It is not as difficult as you think and you DO have time for Bible study!

But it does require some of things from you:

  1. Desire
  2. Diligence, and
  3. Denial

You likely have the desire already – it is what made you click over to this article. And it has kept you reading this far.

The next part, diligence, speaks of creating a habit and maintaining it through many and various obstacles.  I will be writing about this more during this series.

And lastly, you need to deny some thing (or somethings) in your current day in order to make room in your life for your new habit of Bible study.  One of my absolute favorite verses (almost a life verse, really) is this:

Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, 

And revive me in Your ways.  ~Psalm 119:37

It is an important verse to me because it reminds me so much of what I do on a daily basis is actually, in an eternal sense, vanity.  This doesn’t mean everything I do in my homemaking day is vanity, but it does remind me some things are.  It causes me go over my day with a critical eye, asking: “Is this vanity?”  This verse reminds me to turn off the distracting vanities of my day and turn to Jesus for refreshing and revival.

My Hope for YOU!

I pray this is an encouragement to you to begin again with deep and devoted Bible study.  As I said, I will be writing on this topic over a number of days.  I hope it will help you establish the abiding habit of daily devotion to God and His Word.  Over this series I will share the very simple ways to create a Bible study routine:

  • a Plan
  • a Purpose
  • Prayer
  •  and Perseverance

Please join along and ask any questions you have along the way by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post.

This post was shared at Titus 2 Tuesday

You DO have time for Bible study - encouragement for starting the habit of personal, daily Bible study


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This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Anne Hockenberry

    I’ve been convicted of this very thing! I’m actually in a brief season of my life where I DO have time for bible study, both personal devotions and group studies, and yet I still don’t prioritize this in my life. God is reminding me that even in the busy times we don’t have time NOT to study God’s word. I like the Martin Luther quote, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer”. So important and yet sometimes it seems that 15 minutes is more time than I can spare. Thank you for the reminder.

    1. Leah Hudson

      Thanks, Anne for sharing your experience and that quote! It is so true that we have to make it a priority. I hope you will enjoy the upcoming posts in this series! Blessings to you as you get back into that habit!

  2. Vanessa

    So very important! A great reminder… 🙂

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