How much Scripture should we read in one sitting?

September 18, 2011

If the pressure to read and have personal devotion to/with our Creator per-dates the Pharisees themselves by millennia, it shouldn’t surprise us that we still deal with the guilt and frustration with the form it takes today.  Charles Spurgeon reminds us in an 1867 sermon:

Now, do not be satisfied with merely reading through a chapter.  Some people thoughtlessly read through two or three chapters—stupid people for doing such a thing!  It is always better to read a little and digest it, than it is to read much and then think you have done a good thing by merely reading the letter of the word.  For you might as well read the alphabet backwards and forwards, as read a chapter of Scripture, unless you meditate upon it, and seek to comprehend its meaning.  Merely to read words is nothing: the letter kills.

It makes sense: in most cases, it’s quality over quantity!

Spurgeon closes with this: “In your private devotions, strive after vital godliness, real soul-work, the life-giving operation of the Spirit of God in your hearts.”  So for us today, what do personal devotions look like?  Robotic opening of a text and reading as much as we can before our eyelids fall?  There’s time for context and understanding the “whole” story…but there’s also plenty of time to savor a pearl of wisdom or a phrase that turns our hearts toward God–and we meditate on that for days!