You Can Read Your Bible Every Day and Still Miss God

The morning I realized I’d skipped Him

For a long time I had a quiet time that looked, from the outside, like a very good one. I read my Bible. I prayed for my family and worked through a list of friends, coworkers, and whoever had asked that week. Most Sundays I was in church singing (or at least mouthing the words… with a voice as bad as mine, it’s a blessing to those around me when they can’t hear me). If you’d asked whether I spent time with God, I’d have said yes without much hesitation.

What I eventually noticed was that I could do all of that and never actually be with Him. I was reading about Him, talking to Him about other people, and working alongside Him. All good things, and I’d recommend every one of them. But none of it was quite the same as sitting in His company simply because He’s worth sitting with.

Knowing about someone isn’t the same as knowing them. I could tell you a great deal about my wife: where she grew up, her favorite food (it’s Indian), what she’d say about almost anything (although, put to a test, I’d probably get more of those wrong than I really should). Reciting all of that to you still wouldn’t be the same as sitting across the table from her. We’ve been married thirty-three years and counting, and some of those years were long-distance. A phone call catching each other up is a poor substitute for being in the same room.

Martha was serving Jesus

The clearest picture I know of this is in Luke 10. Jesus comes to the home of two sisters, and Martha does what any good host would do: she cooks, cleans, organizes, and makes sure everyone is looked after. Her sister Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and listens. Martha, understandably, is annoyed by Mary’s apparent apathy, and she asks Jesus to tell Mary to help.

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42 NIV)

The part that’s easy to miss is that Martha wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was serving Jesus, personally, in her own house, which is exactly what makes the story uncomfortable. The thing that crowded out being with Him was work done for Him, and I suspect that’s the version most of us fall into.

What we were made for

There’s an old question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, written in the 1640s: What is the chief end of man? The answer is one I’ve come to love: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.”

I’d always heard the first half. The second half, enjoy Him, is the part I’d quietly left out. Worship is where both happen at once. When we praise Him for who He is, we’re doing what we were made for (Isaiah 43:7 says God created His people for His glory), and if we slow down enough, we find we’re enjoying His company as well. Study and intercession and service all matter enormously, and they flow out of this. They just can’t replace it.

Knowing about someone isn’t the same as knowing them.

Why it sits by itself in God OS

This is why worship is the first part of the daily worksheet, with its own space, separate from reading the Word and from praying for others. Those matter just as much; they’re also easier to start and easier to measure, and given half a chance they’ll quietly take worship’s place… I know, because they took it in mine for years.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting anyone trade one for another. Swapping Bible reading for worship would be the same mistake pointed in the other direction. God OS keeps all of it in balance: Worship, Word, Walk, and Prayer. I just think the order matters, and that it starts with being with Him.

What it actually looks like

In practice it’s simpler than it sounds, and it doesn’t take long. Most mornings it’s a few minutes of:

• Praising Him for who He is. The Names & Attributes of God sheet helps here; picking one name, like El Roi, the God who sees, and dwelling on it for a minute is often enough to get started.
• Being quiet long enough for Him to get a word in. This is the part most of us skip, and honestly it’s the part I’m still worst at.

If you’d like a nudge to start with, the God OS app now has a Daily Sync waiting each morning: one doorway into worship, a verse, and one small thing to try.

Some mornings it feels close and warm. Some mornings it feels like nothing much happened, and if that’s where you are, I wrote about exactly that in Worship When the Heart or Mind Is Far Away. The mornings that felt like nothing were still time with Him.

He’s glad you came, list or no list.

Photo by Emiliano Cicero on Unsplash