Why Isobel Did Not Enjoy Bible Reading

Isobel Kuhn was a voracious reader of romantic fiction. Novels were her favorite mental escape from difficulties or from an evening when she had to be alone. 

One night she was deep in the excitement of her book, and it was one o'clock in the morning before she finished it. She picked up the Bible for her usual reading before she slept. But never had the Bible seemed so drab and dull. 

When she tried to pray, the Lord seemed far away. It's just sleepiness, she told herself, and curled up to go to sleep.

But the next morning things were little better. God still seemed far away and the Bible stuffy and uninteresting. 

As she traveled in to work, she wondered, What has happened to me? Why does the Lord no longer seem real? Why has the Bible become insipid? Isobel was alarmed. As she traveled, she began to talk to the Lord about it in her heart?

"Oh Lord, what is wrong with me? Why can't I sense Your presence now as I have lately? Why has the Bible become dry?"

"When a child fills her stomach with ice cream and soda pop," the Lord seemed to reply, "why does she lose her appetite for meat and potatoes?"

"Lord, do you mean the novel did that to me? If I promise to give up novel reading, will You come back to me? Will the Bible come alive to me again?"

"Try it and see."

Isobel said, "From that moment, the Lord was real once more and the Word took on new meaning." She added, "Did I find it hard to make this self-denial? Does one miss candlelight when morning sunshine is pouring in the window? No, I was richly repaid for this self-discipline."

Thank You, Lord, for speaking specifically to us when we hunger to know You better.

"One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple" (Psalm 27:4).