Bible Intake for Different Seasons
Bible intake can look differently for us in different seasons of our lives. We must notice that some seasons offer us more time than others, but there is always a way to hear from God's Word each day. The college years may allow you hours of uninterrupted time in God's Word with coffee in hand. The newlywed years may provide sweet, shared time reading the Bible together with your spouse. The newborn stage may encompass late-night Scripture memory as you fight sleeplessness and nursing around the clock. The toddler phase may entail reading a passage during naptime. The busy seasons may look like listening to an audio Bible as you commute or fold laundry. The hard or emotional seasons may look like late nights in God's Word. Though the intake may look different depending on your present circumstances, it's important and necessary that we continually feed on God's Word.
At the beginning of my third-trimester appointment with our first child, my doctor encouraged me to eat smaller meals multiple times a day instead of a few big meals. He explained that the space that allowed my stomach to expand was now occupied by a sweet baby and that I would no longer be able to eat larger meals without feeling sick or getting severe heartburn. I didn't have the capacity to feast, only to snack. But I needed to continue to provide nutrients for my baby even if it meant adjusting the way that I was used to eating. This of course would not be the case forever but only temporarily as I walked through a short season of pregnancy. Ironically, the first few weeks after our baby girl was born, my Bible reading looked a lot like my third-trimester meals. I would read a little on my phone while I was nursing or listen to my Bible app through my headphones while I held her in my arms. Some days I was so tired I would almost fall asleep listening to or reading it, but I would simply pray and ask God to bring fruit from it.
Through different seasons of our lives, we will likely have to make adjustments in order to feed ourselves with the truth of Scripture. We may have to work a little harder for that time and make greater adjustments to get it, but it is essential no matter the season. It provides us with the rich truth that we need every single day. Psalm 119:93 says, "I will never forget your precepts, for you have given me life through them" (CSB). God's Word is nourishing and helpful, healing and encouraging, instructive and comforting. It provides everything we need to face the day ahead–whether filled with soccer practice and grocery lists, early mornings and deadlines, or heartbreak and loss. His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths, making known to us how we should live and walk in obedience and faithfulness.
In some seasons, reading our Bibles will look like feasting on the Scriptures, and in some seasons, it will look like snacking on it. But even more so than food, we desperately need God's Word to carry us through each day. It is worth rearranging our schedules, skipping a chore, staying up late, or waking up early. We will always profit from reading the Bible. However, as we take it in, we must fight for its importance and pray for God to use it to shape our hearts and minds. We can trust Him when He says that His words will not return to Him empty but will accomplish in us all that He intends for them to accomplish; they will prosper in His purposes (Isaiah 55:11). All we must do is show up to the Bible–read it, listen to it, study it–and so be filled with the fullness of God and His Word.
