Last Thursday I shared some insights from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, for the National Day of Prayer. The same book contain several helps for our daily time in God’s word. In Life Together he uses the term “meditation,” but he is not referring to “transcendental meditation” or anything of that sort, but of daily personal meditation in the scriptures. Here are some of his helpful insights:
Deep, Not Wide
“Whereas in our devotions together we read long consecutive passages, in our personal meditation we confine ourselves to a brief selected text” (pp. 81-82)
Bonhoeffer suggested earlier in the book that in our corporate worship, we should read long passages of scripture. I Timothy 4 tells us to “give attention to the public reading of scripture” – unfortunately many contemporary churches have neglected that, and we need to return to it. But he suggests that in that in our personal daily Bible time, we focus more on the depth, than the breadth of scripture. This is time for us to dig deep, in shorter passages.
Quality, Not Quantity
“How much should I read in my Bible every day?” is a question preachers are often asked. Bonhoeffer has an answer for that:
“It is not necessary that we should get through the entire passage in one meditation. Often we shall have to stop with one sentence or even one word, because we have been gripped and arrested and cannot evade it any longer.” (p. 83)
Some of the best Bible reading advice I was ever given was from a mentor during my first mission trip. I asked him what he did for his daily Bible reading, and he said “I read in the Old Testament until God speaks, and then I read in the New Testament until God speaks.” It is not the number of verses we read that matters, but hearing from God through His word that day.
Make It Personal
“In our meditation we ponder the chosen text on the strength of the promise that it has something utterly personal to say for us for this day and for our Christian life, that it is not only God’s word for the Church, but it is God’s word for us individually. We expose ourselves to this specific word until it addresses us personally.” (p. 82)
You need a personal word for YOU from the text. Do not fall into the trap that many preachers and teachers succumb to, of using their personal Bible reading time for sermon or lesson preparation. I have often warned our staff and congregation and of this, and in fact Bonhoeffer specifically addresses this very thing:
“We do not ask what this text has to say to other people. For the preacher this means that he will not ask how he is going to preach or teach on this text, but what it is saying quite directly to him.” (p. 83)
Physician, heal thyself (first!)
No Points For Originality
“It is not necessary that we should discover new ideas in our meditation. Often this only diverts us and feeds our vanity. It is sufficient if the word, as we read and understand it, penetrates and dwells within us.”
This was a needed word for me. I know that often I overlook the “obvious” spiritual truth and look for something deeper, perhaps generally unknown. Is this pride – looking for what others have missed? Is not what I need much more than some “new” insight, rather to let a well-known one truly become assimilated into my life? Touche, Dietrich …
If I May Respectfully Disagree …
I have benefitted greatly from reading Bonhoeffer’s Life Together. What he teaches regarding the meditation on scripture in this chapter reinforces several things I have tried to teach our congregation for years. But one does not agree with anyone on every single issue, and I would very humbly and respectfully disagree with Bonhoeffer on what he writes on page 83:
“It is not necessary, therefore, that we should be concerned in our meditation to express our thought and prayer in words. Unphrased thought and prayer, which issues only from our hearing, may often be more beneficial.”
Realizing that perhaps I misunderstand his point, I disagree with what he seems to be saying – that it is not important to express what we are learning from our meditation in scripture with words. I have found over the years that there is something about the process of writing down the truths you are learning in the Bible that helps you to truly process it, to think through it exactly, see the truth or error in what you are learning, and help you apply it specifically to your own life, as well as pass it on to others. I have a personal conviction that I must have a pen and paper (or opened laptop these days!) whenever I read the word of God – so that I am ready to process thoroughly what He is teaching me there, and record it. To me it is also a matter of faith: it says to God, “You are going to show me something today that is worth writing down!” – and what does it say of my faith in what He might show me if I am not ready to do that?! Thus I would respectfully disagree with what I think (at least) that the esteemed German pastor asserted about expressing the truths of our scripture reading in words. Write the truths down – and your Bible reading will have the maximum benefit both for yourself and for those to whom you will minister.
Now … don’t just READ about it … DO IT! Meditate on the word of God today!
shawnethomas 
Thanks for the well-written post. It’s very helpful. May I ask a question? What does it mean to read “until God speaks”? How do you know when it is God speaking to you personally through the Scripture?
Nemo? “No one” (I will leave it to you to discern whether I am a great Latin scholar, or I have just seen “Bleak House” … 😉
Your question is a good one, which certainly should be clarified; thanks for asking!
To read until God speaks certainly doesn’t mean that one reads until an audible voice is heard (we walk with God by faith, through His word, not by “sight” — or literal hearing, etc.) Rather I have interpreted that mentor’s advice the way Bonhoeffer applies it in Life Together: that you read until the Spirit of God applies His word to an area of your life — until you are convicted of a sin, or get a word which helps you make a decision, or teaches you something that you can apply to your ministry, etc. “Until God speaks” means that you have had God’s word applied specifically to your life that day.
Really there are two questions here — or perhaps the second is really the crux of what you are getting at: “How do you know when it is God …?” — and not not just one’s own imagination or leaning. Hebrews 5:14 helps us with an answer to that: “Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” WIth time and experience in God’s word every day, we “have our senses trained” to know when He is speaking. And of course, the fruit bears it out: if it is God, whatever is learned will not contradict scripture; it will not lead towards licentiousness but towards holiness; and it will bear fruit in your life and ministry, etc.
Hope that all helps to clarify. Your site sounds interesting — I look forward to reading some of your book reviews!
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I perceive that you are a fan of Dickens, so you must have read/seen Bleak House, but you could also be a great Latin scholar. 🙂
I do believe the Lord teaches us His word, and, like you, I try to write down what I learn from Him every day, using a “one year bible” reading plan. However, sometimes it seems that I have learned nothing for the day, because I can write nothing down. That’s why I wondered about how to read “until God speaks”.
I hope I may without presumption share just a word of personal testimony. I think that it is valuable, from time to time, to read through the Bible in “one year Bible” plans — I have done it several times myself. We need periodically to get the “big picture” that comes from that kind of sweeping reading. But I have also seen personally how the pressure of “getting the daily reading done” can cause me to scan over truths that I would be better off meditating on — thus the point Bonhoeffer makes here of reading only a sentence, or even a word — quality, not quantity of reading. If all known sin is confessed which might cloud one’s hearing from God, then I might suggest slowing down and spending more time on a shorter passage, looking for that personal application from the Lord. However, I would also balance that with what C.S. Lewis called the “Law of Undulation” — we all have our spiritual droughts — and sometimes the best we can do is by faith to muddle through them, even when we are not hearing from God. Continuing to walk in obedience (like daily Bible reading) even when we do not receive immediate insight or gratification from it, is surely pleasing to God. Perhaps He would say of you to angelic majesties as He did of Job: “Have you considered my servant Nemo?” 🙂
On the point where you disagree with Bonhoeffer – I suspect this something that will differ from person to person. I know that for me, note-taking is normally a distraction when reading/meditating on the Bible. There are at least a couple of things that might affect this. One is learning style – whether you tend to learn by making mental maps of information (a Mapper) or by collecting small, concrete information packets (a Packer, though I’m not sure I like that term). I’m a rather extreme Mapper, and my mind tends to focus on making the mental map. For someone who’s tendency is more Packer-ish, turning aside to record the packet just learned isn’t as difficult as it is for the mapper.
The other is that I am more a listener than a talker/writer. I can write clearly, but it can take time and effort (probably partly because I’m having to translate that mental map into something concrete enough to be written). Stopping the mediation to take the effort to put it into writing takes my attention elsewhere.
it wouldn’t surprise me if Bonhoeffer was something of a Mapper. You don’t juggle concepts around like he does without at least being comfortable with that style. If so, then it’s not surprising that he ends up recommending something more comfortable for mappers. The best advice on this might be more like, figure out where on the spectrum between the two profits you most and stick to it, whether or not other believers do the same thing.
I do appreciate the part about Quality, not Quantity. I use Olive Tree’s Bible Reader software, and use one of their Daily Reading plans, which will cover the whole Bible in a year. I am currently about 2 months behind. After reading that section, I’m going to drop the guilt about being “so far behind”. I’ll keep using the plan to track where I should read, but I won’t worry abou being “up to date”.
Insightful comments about learning style, Oloryn — one size doesn’t always fit all, though sometimes we assume it does. The important thing is that we hear from God every day through His word, and that we let it teach us and change our lives. Thanks for reading and sharing!
I find it helpful to think of the parable of the sower. The Word is the seed, and when it is sown in the ground, it takes time to spread roots (mapper), metabolize and grow (packer), before it sprouts and becomes visible above ground. So it might take some time and effort for us to meditate/ruminate on the Word before we can articulate what was learned and write down the lesson.
And with some of us, you don’t always get all of a particular thing at once. I’ve more than once gotten a particular idea from the Father, along with the feeling ‘keep this in the back of your mind’. It’ll be interesting, but I don’t yet see where it goes. Years later, sometimes, you get the rest of it.
Thank you!!!