“Blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord and… “

Can I tell you I am glad the psalm does not continue, “And this law he reads for an hour every day before his tasks”? Thank you, Jesus!

I love to read the Word. I love to have quiet time. With coffee. And a notebook. And an hour of uninterrupted time.

But let’s be real. With four kids, one of them a baby, that just doesn’t happen.

I am in a season of little sleep, an irregular routine, and a baby who has erratic sleeping schedules. Interruptions are part of my life. If I truly believed that God is closest when I’m leafing through the pages of my paper Bible, I would miss out on all the other 23.5 hours of the day, when I still need him to be with me.

A wretch like me

Somewhere in my teens I prayed, “God, make me miserable when I don’t spend time with you!” And oh, he was faithful to that prayer. I was a wretch when I didn’t get my quiet time.

Sadly, I equated “time reading the Bible” with spending time with Jesus. As a bonus I had 3 years’ worth of Bible college inflating my perceived righteousness.

I was proud and utterly blind to it. I measured the health of my relationship with God by whether I had time to journal and pray and read and study. If I had a “quiet time,” I was good. If I missed my “quiet time” I suffered–and so did everyone else I was around that day.

My “quiet time” had become an idol. It was my high place, and wrath be upon man or beast which upset that idol.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that this “quiet time” model is a first world privilege.

If I didn’t have a Bible and only had received the gospel with great joy, would he be any less real to me? What if I had no leisure time in which to read? What if I couldn’t read? Or what if there was no New Testament in my language? Would anyone know I believed him if I did not Instagram my hot beverage and new women’s planner and my highlighted page in John?

While it is valuable to make an effort to put our noses in our open Bibles as frequently and regularly as we can, it is not a measure of one’s depth of relationship or devotion.

Day and night

No, the psalm doesn’t say we need to have a quiet time. If that were all, how two-dimensional our relationship with him would be!

“Blessed is the one … whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deut 6:5-7

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” Gal 5:25

We don’t read a book to know Jesus. Don’t get me wrong–we do learn of Jesus in the Bible–because his word is life and light and the true measure of who Jesus is and was and will always be. But that is not the only place we meet with him.

Paul (Saul) first met Jesus pretty dramatically during his commute. (Acts 9)

Cornelius met Jesus when Peter came to visit and brought the Holy Spirit with him. (Acts 10)

Paul and Silas experienced Jesus when they were worshiping in prison (Acts 16), and that made it possible for a jailer and his family to meet Jesus.

An unnamed woman in a rough patch in life was out running a boring daily errand when she met Jesus. Then she couldn’t stop talking about him until everyone in her town met him, too. (John 4)

John was on a desert island as a punitive sentence when Jesus appeared and showed him what to write in the letter that became Revelation (Rev 1).

None of those are idyllic quiet time moments. In fact, some of these people didn’t have a Bible at all. But they heard the Holy Spirit. If we took away the “quiet time” check box, how would I measure the quality of my relationship with Jesus?

Where can I go from your Spirit?

I’ve met Jesus while driving to carpool. While putting away laundry. While showering. While at lunch with friends. I’ve met him while reading the Bible, of course! But that’s a small piece of the pie. He is so much bigger than the text.

He has met me during labor contractions. He has healed my broken heart after the tragic loss of my brother. He has interrupted my arguments during petty fights with my husband. He has given insight in how to parent our children (Lord help us through middle school).

He not a doctor with whom we must schedule an appointment. He is on call, day and night. Accessible. Listening. Available. Counseling.

I do believe in:

Daily reading the word. Or listening to the word. Even if it feels dry or empty, it still makes room for the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts. We cannot assume, though, that looking at the page is equal to spending time with Jesus, if that’s all we do.

Studying the word. Not just reading, but finding related scriptures, seeking understanding, and pursuing knowledge.

Sharing with others. It is encouraging, it helps us gain perspective and clarity, and makes room for us to practice our gifts. We don’t understand the whole of revelation on our own; we sometimes get off track, and we need others to rein us in sometimes. Often having the courage to tell someone else what we’re sensing from God is a necessary step to solidifying it in our hearts. And then they have room to follow up later, to remind us how we intended to obey.

Recording what we hear. Journaling, recording, jotting notes and dates in your Bible, whatever method suits you–but if we don’t takes note of how we’re growing in God, what we’re learning, and what direction we are heading, we will easily forget.

Doing what we hear. Would salvation, worship, prayer, and the indwelling Holy Spirit be enough for us? How would we respond to the gift of the gospel if we didn’t have a quiet time box to check off? What if we just did what we already know?

James says not to be a hearer only, but a doer. Do what we know. He didn’t stop there–he said, the one who does what he hears, not forgetting what he has heard, will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:25)

Lord, give me courage to obey what I know, the faith to walk in the Spirit, and the love to dwell with you, day in and day out.