Seminary classes breed disagreement even on the minutiae of Christian doctrine and practice. Or should I say especially in seminary, believers disagree on trivial matters. From your classmates to your professors to all those foreign theologians you read – you find as many conflicting notions on the practicalities of faith as there are books in the library. Most believers in the pew simply shrug their shoulders and say, “What’s the point?” Yet, some disputes deserve a special place on the table.
Recently, one such debate has profoundly impacted me: How should the Christian balance prayer and Bible reading? Which one takes priority? And why?The subject crept up when my classmates were discussing the proper ratio a preacher ought to have between Bible study and prayer time.
The ideas covered a broad spectrum, of course. But most of my classmates fell into two major categories. Some colleagues believed that too much Bible study before a sermon actually lessened the power of the Holy Spirit. The remedy? Minimize sermon preparation to maximize the Spirit’s influence! Others demanded each sermon be completely written out – painstakingly thought over, toiled over, studied and exposited until every last drop of truth could be wrung from any given passage. I quickly found that the first group came up with the entertaining, but hardly edifying messages. The second group hardly ever preached.
But it isn’t just a pastor who balances prayer and the Word. Most serious-minded Christians juggle between devotion to the Word and devotion to prayer in their Quiet Time. Well-meaning Christians add a thirty-minute window for personal spiritual growth to their already busy morning schedule. Based on their idea of priority, they generally fall into one of two categories.
The Christians who value Scripture above all often pick up the One-Year Bible and try to make it through the day’s reading within 25 minutes so they can at least give 5 minutes to prayer. Then, even if they accomplish the task, they still feel a little guilty – first, because they rushed through the Bible reading, and second, because they don’t have more time to pray. They believe Jesus’ phrase applies directly to them – they “don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.”
The Christians who believe that prayer is the most vital part of the Christian life approach Quiet Time the other way around. Inspired by the countless stories of Christian heroes who prayed 4 hours a day and found endless time for spiritual reflection and meditation, they seek to give a hefty chunk of their morning to their constantly-updated and ever-growing prayer list. But after they put the notebook aside, many sense a gnawing guilt that they don’t know what else to pray for. And without the prayer list, they feel lost, only able to pray for several minutes before quickly running out of words. Constant repetition of key phrases, Bible prayers, charismatic emotion or simply awkward silence eventually dominates their prayers. Then the frustration and guilt arrives. They believe they have become like the babblers Jesus warned of, those who think they will be “heard for their many words.”
Why do both groups feel guilty? Does God’s written Word to us and our spoken words to God have to be in competition? Some try a 50-50 compromise. I remember one colleague who tried to find the middle ground in the prayer/study debate. He declared, as if from God, that one should always match their preparation time with praying time. That meant that if you spent 10 hours preparing a sermon, you should spend 10 separate hours on your knees praying specifically for God’s blessing on that sermon.
This idea, while extreme, actually led to a breakthrough. Our professor listened calmly as the ruckus in the room escalated. After a few moments of mayhem, he interrupted by asking a simple question: “Why do prayer and study have to be separate?” The idea, completely foreign to our compartmentalized minds, made sense. After all, just because we can split an atom, doesn’t mean we have to.
That classroom discussion led to an overhaul of my Quiet Time habits (not to mention sermon preparation). No longer did I feel guilty for spending too much time in the Word or too little on my knees (or vice versa). Bible study and prayer are as intertwined as inhaling and exhaling is to breathing. Can you divide the breathing process right down the middle – only inhaling for fifteen minutes and then only exhaling continually for fifteen minutes? Of course not. You can’t live that way. You’ll only wind up tired, frustrated and flushed. Sadly, that’s generally how people who try to rigidly divide prayer and study in their Quiet Time wind up. We miss out on being daily revitalized after daily time spent with God.
Once we demolish the dichotomy between prayer and Bible study, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. We don’t have to rush through five chapters of the Bible a day, nor get writer’s cramp checking off prayer requests like we would the items on our shopping list. When we study the Word as just that… God’s Word, we hear Him speak. It is to His Word that we respond. Those who cut off Bible study in favor of more prayer often find less to pray about. Those who find prayer to be not as efficient as study often haven’t truly understood the Word they’re reading.
Prayer and Scripture go hand in hand. Prayer without Scripture is like a two-story house without the first story. Scripture without prayer is like the Dead Sea that simply takes in the flowing water of the Jordan River but stagnates because it has no outlet. Quiet time becomes exciting when you so immerse in God’s Word that you begin saying it back. . . to Him. The psalms become true prayers for today, not just prayers of people in the distant past. The more you understand the biblically justified cry for God’s Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, the easier it will be to pray “Thy Kingdom Come” before “Give us our daily bread.” The more you know about the God of the Scriptures, the more you will know Him. Your heart will resemble His heart, your words will echo His Word, you will cry His tears, and His love will become your love.
Let’s leave behind our frustrating attempts to squeeze God’s Word and our response to His truths into separate drawers of a crammed-full chest. Allow His Light to spill out and wash over the rest of your busy life. Instead of just skimming God’s Word and enduring the stillness, you’ll find yourself living His Word and enjoying His presence… and feasting on the truths.
written by Trevin Wax © 2007 Kingdom People blog
