Struggling With Devotions

This week started by me adding in a second devotional to my morning routine. As some of you know, I frequently use David Lose’s website as my morning devotional, but with Scott McDonald’s devotional for our “Reading the Bible with Luther” series, I thought I’d take up another. Today’s reading was Psalm 119:97-112.

I love the imagery and language it employs because the writer is so sure that they are following the word of God; it’s their meditation all day long, always with them, it makes me wiser than the teachers. No matter what, it seems, the writer is sure that the law is followed and obeyed and held dear in their heart. At first glance, it seems both cocky on the writer’s part and completely out of reach for me. But as you keep reading, there’s a change. Even though there is confidence of knowing and obeying the word, the writer still pleads with God to “teach me your ordinances”. There is still an earnest desire that God would continue to work on the writer in and through God’s word. It is wonderfully moving to hear such a heartfelt plea that takes the cockiness out of the earlier verses.

As I read that this morning, I immediately wandered from the questions that Scott had in the devotional (funny how that happens so often, right?). My mind wandered to Luther’s Large Catechism (funny how that probably only happens to me though, right? #Nerd). It wandered to Luther’s explanation of the Third Commandment: You are to hallow the day of rest. Here’s what struck me: 

Remember, then, that you must be concerned not only about hearing the Word, but also about learning it and retaining it. Do not think that it is up to your discretion or that it is an unimportant matter. It is the commandment of God, who will require of you an accounting of how you have heard, learned, and honored his Word.

And again a paragraph later:

Let me tell you this. Even though you know the Word perfectly and have already mastered everything, you are daily under the dominion of the devil, and he does not rest day or night in seeking to take you unawares and to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts against these three and all the other commandments. Therefore you must constantly keep God’s Word in your heart, on your lips, and in your ears. For where the heart stands idle and the Word is not heard, the devil breaks in and does his damage before we realize it. On the other hand, when we seriously ponder the Word, hear it, and put it to use, such is its power that it never departs without fruit. It always awakens new understanding, pleasure, and devotion, and it constantly creates clean hearts and minds. For this Word is not idle or dead, but effective and living.

Wow- even though you know it perfectly and have already mastered everything, there’s still more to do. Luther might have had this particular psalm writer in mind, right? There’s always something that distracts, pulls, or lures from observing and taking to heart what God and Christ desire. It seems even more probable to have that happen when so rarely do I feel as ‘good’ as the psalmist does in those first few verses.

So with that in mind, I thought I would look at this “Ask, meditate, struggle” cycle that Scott wrote about (okay, oratio, meditatio, tentatio if you are a Latin fan). Here’s my stream of consciousness:

Ask: God, if this writer is being truthful, they are way ahead of the curve from where I am. How can I get there? What’s the first step? The writer asks that you would teach and revive with this Word. Can you do that for me too?

<five minutes of thought>

Meditate: Looking back over this passage, the writer is awfully active, seems like he’s devoted to doing something with what he’s learned. There are some specific things that the writer claims to do that give such wisdom and insight and such a discerning air about them- v.105 is such a familiar verse… but it talks about the word being a lamp that illuminates the path. The word doesn’t walk me down the path, it shows me the path. Maybe I’m being a little passive in my asking- asking God to move my feet and my heart, when God’s already made the first move to encounter me in the Word, Jesus, and the written word here and is urging me to do something now.

<five more minutes of thought>

Struggle: The writer is devoted to God and the embodying of God’s Word. The word “devotion” comes from the Latin word meaning “to consecrate”- perhaps I’m forgetting who it is who has consecrated me. God is constantly the center of the writer’s devotion, is God my center? Perhaps I spend more time than I should just waiting for God to make me take a step, because I’m afraid I won’t be as perfect as this writer. Perhaps that’s the dangerous distraction that Luther talks about- when we stand idle like that, with the lamp shining forth, the most dangerous part for us is that nothing changes, nothing happens, we can affect no change or take “the Word, hear it, and put it to us.” I’m going to be more active about walking down this lighted path, and trust, have faith that the one I try to devote myself to, God’s Word, Jesus Christ, is so powerful that he won’t leave me in the dark, but continue bearing fruit in the world.

Jon Wolf, Associate Pastor