For the month of November, we get to hear from a handful of women as they discuss, practically, what it looks like to seek God through his Word, daily. As they share some of the tips and tools they have implemented in light of their own situations and seasons, the hope is that God would meet you, powerfully, in your own.
I have approximately a forty-minute bus commute to work in Ashland everyday. This is my ‘quiet time’. A pithy phrase for what is no less than beautiful communion with our Lord.
My morning bus ritual typically involves a few moments with my man, Oswald. Oswald Chambers, that is, author of My Utmost For His Highest: one of the most well known devotional books. Never have I encountered a devotional that so points me back to the word like Chambers.
Each daily message outlines a portion of scripture and Chambers has challenging and rich insight to accompany it for each day. Take these gems for example:
- “ Most of us develop our Christianity along the line of our temperament, not along the line of God. “
- “Prayer does not fit us for the greater works; prayer is the greater work. “
- “The disposition of sin is not immorality and wrong-doing, but the disposition of self-realization-I am my own God.”
- “Let God’s truth work in you by soaking in it, not by worrying into it.”
- “We have to learn that our individual effort to God is an impertinence; our individuality is to be rendered incandescent to a personal relationship to God.”
- “It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes.”
I love the way Chambers challenges me to revisit scripture that I may have passed over, or never thought to meditate on. He also challenges my lingering and often wrong perceptions of Jesus’ character. Chambers pushes me to pause, reflect and soak into scripture before moving on. In this way, the Holy Spirit moves in my heart to reveal a new or deeper understanding of God himself. And always is “My Utmost” gospel-centered. You cannot miss that Chambers’ ultimate treasure was Jesus Christ and he sought to teach others to treasure him, likewise.
This is what being in the word looks like for me on a daily basis. Being a woman in the word means you grab the time you have, be it five or forty minutes. It can be reading a portable bible on the bus (I have a mini one!), listening to a solid message, or a devotional that turns you back to scripture and ultimately to Christ.
We honor God by treasuring him above all else with our study and meditation in the word, be it in our prayer closet or on public transit.
Grace Enough 