Let me be honest at the outset of this brief article. I have never been a fan of calendrical devotions due to the clique-driven premise of so many of the books on the market. This is, in part, due to the way my brain navigates written literature. I struggle to “just read” due to my always being engaged with the text in a way that lends toward notetaking and marginalia. To combat this developed weakness in my reading patterns, I have taken to listening to audiobooks as a way to just get through a book without the constant process of taking notes, highlighting, underlining, and investigating literary texts.
This is something that is very important for each of you, as readers of this article, to ascertain in your own lives. How do you interact with books? What style of books are most productive to you? Is there a specific format or layout that provides the most efficiency in your absorption of new ideas, thoughts, and facts? Learning this will help you in two important ways: (1) it will help you build your library with books that maximize the efficiency of your reading and (2) it will help you understand your literary weaknesses and provide you an opportunity to push yourself toward genres and literary styles you are not comfortable reading.
For example, I do not interact well with Andy Stanley type books. To me, they are clique-driven and built around ideas that are very superficial and shallow. Don’t get upset with me, it is obvious–based on his book sales–that I am the exception rather than the rule. However, I have challenged myself to read through several of his books and my interaction–as challenging as it was to fight through boredom–proved beneficial in that I was able to glean some ideas and thoughts I could take further with robust biblical exegesis.
The Biblical Origin of a Daily Devotion
While we can certainly see a deviation from the original premise of daily devotions, the Bible does provide us with a clear call to its principled notion. The first text from the Bible that immediately leaps to my mind when discussing the idea of daily devotionals is found in Joshua 1:8:
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
While we understand that Joshua would have only enjoyed access to the book of the law written by Moses, it is clearly something that he is admonished to meditate upon daily as a means to enjoy prosperity and good success through the observation of those things he meditated upon. In other words, his daily scriptural meditations were designed to propagate observation. This idea is further enhanced by the teachings found in James 1:22-25:
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
The idea of scriptural meditation, according to the Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament), is to “ponder, give serious thought and consideration to selected information, with a possible implication of speaking in low tones reviewing the material.” Nowhere do I find a scriptural basis for meditation involving transcendent musical rifts woven around the hypnotic voice of a reader. No, I think scriptural meditation is very clear–it is the daily practice of giving scripture serious thought and consideration with a motivation to assimilate its truths for the purpose of continued observation. I see another call to this daily practice in Psalms 1:2:
But his delight is in the law of the Lord; And in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Developing a Daily Devotional
So how do we go about establishing a consistent daily pattern of interacting with God’s Word? That is a great question and the answer will likely be different depending on who you ask. Let me layout several specifics that I believe will help you establish a daily ritual that will become something you look forward to each and every morning (possibly evenings as well).
#1: Use a Bible Reading Plan
Bible reading plans are a wonderful means to challenge you into reading through your Bible once a year. Plans range from 90-day (which I don’t recommend) to 365-day designs and of these plans you can find just about any subcategory you desire. There are plans designed for men, women, teens, and even children. If you are looking for a good one-year Bible reading plan there is a tremendous laminated pamphlet designed by Rose Publishing that can be found here. This pamphet has three different options and will fit inside most Bibles and has daily checkboxes you can use after each daily reading. Of course, nothing is more convenient than a digitally-driven plan for those of you more tech-savvy. A great free iOS app to track daily Bible reading was designed by Glenn Sonderskov called “Bible Study Tool.” Check it out of the App Store along with many, many different Bible reading plans designed as apps.
My personal favorite among the yearly Bible reading plans is the Chronological Reading Plan that organizes daily readings to follow an order in which events actually occurred (to the best of scholastic knowledge, of course). To give you an idea, the first three readings bring you through Genesis 1-11 following by the book of Job then picking back up in Genesis 12. I absolutely love this format as it helps me to follow along in a historical context. I personally interact with this reading plan via Logos Bible Software which can be accessed on any of my digital devices that gives me the ability to “mark read” following each daily reading and I am given reminders if I so choose!
The Bible reading plan is the first thing I do in my morning devotions.
#2: Devotional Materials
This is where we can get bogged down–devotional materials! Again, I need to clarify that my style of daily devotional reading may be completely different than what you enjoy. Some of you may enjoy navigating the commercialized publications that emphasize the promises of God, the mercies of God, or something similar that can be found in the wide array of materials available. The addict, men, women, teens, children–you name it–there is a devotional available and you can easily navigate amazon and rank them by popularity to find one that suits you.
Personally, I like to use materials that promote a deeper reflection on the word of God or materials that reflect expositional sermons written and preached by 19th and early 20th century preachers. An example of two such pastoral authors are Clarence Edward Macartney and Clovis Chappell. Each author provides an incredible library of books that organize sermons into categories such as the Lord’s Prayer, Great Women of the Bible, Heroes of the Bible, and etc. Each sermon can easily be read each morning and you will be amazed at the amount of history, biblical connection, and thought-provoking content within each book. These types of books help bring the Bible alive in a way that stays with me each and every day!
Another devotional material, though a bit deeper, can be found in the style of expositional devotion. One of my personal favorites is John G. Butlers 4-volume Daily Bible Reading. Butler also has a tremendous Bible Biography Series, Studies of the Savior Series, and a 5-volume Sermon Starter series that is laid out in a user-friendly devotional format. While designed as a more robust yearly Bible reading plan, I utilize these as a more detailed and in-depth devotional material following my daily Bible reading plan and expositional sermon. This is my favorite portion of my daily devotions because I have already been primed and my heart and head have been tethered together to interact with God’s Word as He designed.
#3: Pray Through Devotions
I would be remiss to not discuss the importance I place on conversing with God while engaging with each of my morning devotional materials. When I am reading through the Bible I will often talk to God about things I am reading or repeat things aloud as a means to gain a better remembrance of the materials. I am big on incorporating prayer into these devotions even though I have already spent time in prayer before I begin my morning devotions.
I am a firm believer that when I handle the Living Word it does something to my spiritual core every time I begin to interact with its powerful words. Just as water nourishes the body each morning and engages the digestive system and begins to rejuvenate key systems in the body, so also does the Word of God do this to my spiritual man, unseen.
Hope that was helpful! Is there something you do that you think would be helpful? Please leave a comment and let me know!
Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.