Day 9

Week 2, Day 9: Intimacy Requires Time - The Value of Time Spent in Scripture and in Prayer

Scripture without prayer is non-relational and prayer without scripture can lead to a relationship where you don’t actually know who God is. In the absence of knowing God through his written revelation to us it's easy to fill in who God is with our own imagination. Either path leads to missing out on the fullness of what God has for us.

The Holy Spirit can and does guide us through our lack of knowledge but just as a good parent won’t continue to enable immature behavior from their child, how much more will God want us to mature into a fuller relationship which includes knowing and desiring to know what He has revealed in His written word.

Conversely, a constant throughout the gospels, is Jesus interacting with the Pharisees who knew scripture better than the vast majority of us ever will but they completely missed the forest for the trees. Jesus said all of scripture pointed to Him and yet the experts who were looking forward to the promised Messiah ended up killing Him when he came. 

It is easy for those of us more academically minded to feel like we are growing because of our Biblical and theological knowledge and use that as an excuse to not leave our comfort zone to grow in an actual relationship with God. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13, says “if we can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge… but have not love, we gain nothing.” 

Building intimacy with God through time spent in Scripture also depends on how we approach that time. Are we looking for a nugget of encouragement and then moving on or are we searching the Scriptures to know God, taking the time to meditate and struggle through even the parts that are harder to understand or seem less exciting?

For those of us less academic and more relational, it's easy to feel close to God through time in prayer, seeking spiritual experiences and in emotionally charged worship music. But if we don’t actually know who we are worshipping, then our actions, speech, and teaching might be misaligned with God and His purposes.

Zeal is not a substitute for truth. Peter was extremely zealous for Jesus but even he, because of his lack of understanding, was rebuked by Jesus (“Get behind me Satan”). The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 says, “if we speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, we are only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.” Participating in the supernatural is not a substitute for truth either: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you…” (Mat 7:22-23).

None of this means that we can’t or don’t have a close and fruitful relationship with God unless we master balancing both aspects of knowing Him, but hopefully our love for God will drive us to put the time and effort into growing towards truly knowing Him in spirit and in truth even if we have to stretch ourselves to get there, and in time grow into loving and desiring depth of prayer and scripture as we mature in Him.

Listening Prayer: 

Lord, what am I prioritizing over growing deeper in knowing you and what can I do to truly know you more in spirit and in truth? 

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your love and patience. Thank you that your yoke is easy and your burden is light. Please help me grow in knowing you deeper through your Word and guide me in my time with you to know who you really are. I desire to know you in both Spirit and Truth. Help me to grow in my areas of weakness to develop a balanced and intimate relationship with you. Teach me and guide me. Amen.

Resources: Bible Verses on Intimacy Built Through God’s Word

Deuteronomy 6:5-8

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.“

1 Timothy 3:17-17

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Mark 1:35

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

Psalm 1:2-3

“His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.In all that he does, he prospers.”

Worship Song:

Take Time to Be Holy