Not “getting anything” Out of Your Devotions?

“I wish I could get more out of my devotions.”  “How can I make my devotions more effective?”

These are two questions that were asked of me in regards to my last post about Personal Devotions.  If I am honest with you, I used to judge my personal devotions by what I got out of them or by what I might have learned through them. We tend to consider our devotions successful only when we learn a new truth, or get some clarity on a difficult issue etc. We are inclined to look up to those around us who have a lot of head knowledge of the bible or who may have a good memory and can seemingly pull bible verses out of the thin air, those people who can spout doctrine and theology with ease, those who seem to have a bible verse or say the “right thing” at the right time, and so on.  Since we are fallen creatures, we get so easily discouraged if we can’t “keep up” with those around us who are theologically minded who have a gift for understanding the deep truths of God, and we want to give up when we feel like we have not gained any insights or learned something new in our personal devotions.  I have been there, as I am sure most of you have as well.

What if I told you that we are missing the point of devotions when we judge the “success” of devotions by what we learn, or how we feel, or the clarity of mind we receive in devotions?

What if I told you that the point of personal devotions is less about learning about God and more about spending time with Him?

What if I told you that personal devotions are less about Bible study and more about getting to know God and have a relationship with him?

Consider that if instead of trying to learn about God, we focused on just spending time with God, by listening to Him through His Word and responding to Him in prayer and song?  If this was our motivation, then it would not really matter what we learned because our joy is found in the knowledge of God as opposed to the knowledge about Him.

Let me clarify, I am not saying we should abandon bible study, the memorization of scripture and the confessions, or attaining head knowledge.  We absolutely should continually strive to learn ABOUT God, I value my time spent in Bible study, the confessions and reading theology books, discussing these things with others and so on…but my point here is that the time spent with God is just that, time spent building a relationship with the almighty, with your redeemer, with your father. Once I realized the subtle difference between Bible study and personal devotions I found that I was able to grow further in both my knowledge of God (my relationship with him) and in my knowledge about Him (bible study, theology etc.) The difference is very subtle, but it is there. Let me put it this way: In bible study I learn about our God (his attributes, what he has done, who He is, etc.), In my personal devotions I personally apply what I have learned (My only comfort – LD 1, resting in His presence, dwelling in his love, focused on His mercy and grace etc.).  Now I don’t judge my devotions by what I learn, or how I feel. Instead, personal devotions are simply times spent with my God, time spent listening and speaking, time spent building a relationship with a God whom I want to know. You do not need to be a Phd in theology to know Jesus. You do not need to have extensive knowledge of God in order to know Him. You don’t even need to know as much ( or as little) about it all as I do. There are certain truths you do need to know, and I encourage you all to seek the knowledge, but my point here is that in order to make your devotions a “success” all you need to do is just be willing to spend in time in prayer, time meditating on the Word, to listen and to respond to our Gracious Creator and Redeemer.

So to end, I think that we all need to spend more time in bible study, so that we can do less studying in our devotions…if that makes sense to you…or did I just confuse the whole issue further? 🙂