What to Read in the Bible
When my husband Daniel was about to begin his third year of med school, we knew he would have to be on call at night sometimes leaving me alone as often as every third night. I was terrified to stay alone. We began praying that I would not be afraid those nights he had to stay at the med center.The first night Daniel was on call, I happened to open to Proverbs and read, “When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet” (3:24 KJV). That verse proved to be absolutely true. When I would lie down, I was not afraid. One night I heard a noise outside, and, remembering my verse, I hurriedly hopped in bed. Sure enough, I was not afraid and went right to sleep.
Sometimes God does speak to us like that, but a better habit is to read according to a routine and expect the Lord to give us what we need in that passage. One day I was desiring God’s blessing in a certain situation and wondered if I should fast breakfast and lunch. I knew the Spirit would lead me. In morning devotions our daughter read Psalm 37, and I took the phrase “Wait on the Lord,” as my answer. I would fast to tell the Lord I was waiting on Him.
The next morning I opened to Isaiah thinking, I really haven’t been getting much out of these chapters. I was tempted to skip to another book, but stuck to reading Isaiah. When I came to 25:9, I knew God had this special promise there for me that day: “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
Jesus, thank You for seeing commitment to the routine as faithfulness and responding to it.
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15).
