The Door into God's Presence

Last week, I reminisced about the Sunday school teacher who introduced me to the concept of praying all the time about every little thing, practicing the Presence of God. That memory led to the one I’d like to share today.

Several years back, I was struggling to reinvigorate a waning Bible study routine. I had trained myself as a teenager to read four chapters a day because that’s how many you have to read to get through the Bible in a year. In college that changed; I studied what my professors told me to study for each class and usually tried to read a Psalm each day with that. Then I became a Sunday school curriculum editor and studied whatever I was working on. When I became a stay-at-home-mom, I tried to go back to the four-chapters-a-day plan.

But my heart and mind weren’t in this as they should have been. It was duty more than devotion. I longed to love God’s Word, but couldn’t quite figure out how. My Bible study time dropped off to what I heard or read in church and Sunday school or read in books about God’s Word. I prayed about this often because it truly troubled me.

Then one Sunday, the chaplain in charge of the service for the day spoke on just this thing. He told us that reading about God’s Word wasn’t sufficient and that hearing it read in church once a week wasn’t enough. He encouraged us to make daily appointments to read our Bibles with God, to set a time, any time, to read every day.

And then he let me off the hook!

He told us devotional time isn’t about reading through the Bible in a year or accomplishing a set amount of reading. Rather, devotional time is opening God’s Word in order to open the door into His Presence. Reading the Bible is listening to God. That chaplain challenged us, whether we read one chapter, one paragraph, or even one verse, to open our Bibles and read each day, same time every day—a sacred appointment to meet with God.

God convicted me through that message, yet He also invited me—to meet with Him each day. I set my alarm and started the very next morning.

Now I read my Bible with a post-it note, journal, and pen. I read until I sense I’m done. If one verse especially speaks to me, I write it down and reflect on it—sometimes, then, it says even more. Some days, this time an act of discipline: I’m chomping at the bit ready to get on with my day, but determined to stick around until I believe God is saying, “Class dismissed.” I run off with relief, yet equipped for the day.

Other days, God has to send me on my way though I long to linger. It's as if He says, "You have a household to run, child. I will go with you, though." I use the post-it to mark my place, and begin a new day with God.

Lord, thank You for Your Word, the door into Your Presence each day. A book, a chapter, a paragraph, a verse—quantity doesn’t matter. It’s all about precious time with You, amazing God! Amen.