"God is not mad at me for not reading the Bible... What I need to ask is What can I feed my mind with so that it will flourish. ... The reason to read the Bible is not to fulfill a spiritual duty or to gain more knowledge. ... Let's not try harder. Let's try softer."
A theme of my life recently has been one of dryness, not in all aspects, more specifically when it comes to reading Scripture. My solution for this was to try harder- by journaling more, reading at a different time, focusing more (at least attempting to) and even changing the location - which aren't bad things in themselves.
What I'm realizing though, is that I am starting from the wrong place.
"Delighting in God's law starts with a vision of being loved by God."
John goes on to reference Philippians 4:8- saying that we have freedom to let our minds flourish in 'whatever...'.
I wish that I could communicate all the different ways John highlighted to experience the flow of the Spirit through Scripture. What is of cornerstone importance is to start with the vision of being loved by God. While in periods of dryness it is wise to make yourself aware of the sin that is keeping you from God, I think that now is a time when I just need to think of God. And once I take that with me- and begin to look at Scripture through the wonder of His love I should go back to the familiar Bible stories and let my imagination and curiosity take over. I can use specific attitudes and traits that God has created in me to lead me in growing along with Him.
It's a beautiful day when God meets our struggles with His assurance, takes hold of us and enables us to grow from where we are.
Oh my soul rejoice! Take joy my King in what You hear- may it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.
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