On Lingering

For the past few weeks, I’ve been leading a weekly Bible study for women called Knowing the Names of God by Mary Kassian. The study is designed to take 7 weeks, but I had to condense it into 6. Then one week of the study had to be cancelled to due circumstances beyond anyone’s control. So now I’m condensing 7 weeks into 5; we’re studying 7 names a week instead of 5.

Needless to say, we’re all feeling a bit rushed. I told the women in my group this week that I feel like an art gallery tour guide. I lead the group to each name in turn, point out and help them discuss the highlights, then grab their hands and yell, “We’re moving on now. Stay together. Hurry! There’s so much to see, and we have a schedule to keep!”

But on some names, they long to linger.

I do, too.

So this week, I encouraged everyone to go back and do just that. They own the art gallery! (The book and The Book.) Therefore, they can go back when the whirlwind tour is over and savor each Work more fully with what they now know. I know I plan to do this, and I hope they will, too. The names of God reveal so much about His character.

As I was contemplating this on behalf of my class, I realized that this rushing through has, lately, become a part of my morning devotions, too. It’s not that I’m hurrying through devotions in order to get on with my day, but that I’m trying to cram too much material into my established quiet time. At the beginning of the year, I chose one daily devotional to read in conjunction with my Bible reading, then someone gave me another that just couldn’t wait until 2012, then I found a book . . . well, you get the idea. I’m running through the museum, eagerly trying to see everything.

There’s a time for that.

But there’s also a time to linger. (Didn’t Solomon say something like that in the book of Ecclesiastes? Do you think, "There is a time for everything," includes a time for hurrying and a time for lingering? See Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.)

Sometimes we need to linger—to completely take in the scene. We need to hear Noah pounding nails, smell the gopher wood, see each animal and, perhaps, touch its fur, feathers, or scales. We need to taste the bread and fish as Jesus serves breakfast to his disciples on the shore. We need to hear His words to Peter and see the compassion in His eyes. We need to hear the voices, feel the threshold shake, smell the smoke, and realize we are ruined as Isaiah did before the Lord that, as he did, we can receive forgiveness and find courage to serve. Each story is a picture for us to absorb until its relevant meaning comes alive inside our lives.

Absorption takes time.

So today I invite you to linger as I challenge myself to slow down and do so, too. Let’s take the concepts that are introduced to us at church or Bible study or in personal quiet time and take the time to fully contemplate the choicest few.

Father, teach us to linger. Help us to realize that, if we really want to understand Your Word, we must contemplate each passage rather than hurry on through. It's not about finishing; it's about taking the time to know You. And You are big! Thank You for giving us a lifetime to learn all You want us to. Please help us use that time faithfully and wisely to honor You. Amen.


For more devotional thoughts this weekend, visit the Spiritual Sunday blog.