Well its 2013 and its that time when we resolve to read the bible the whole way through. It is a worthy ambition with which to start a new year; getting to grips with the whole bible and not just our favourite bits is our life long task. It is of huge worth reading the bible at speed; building up an understanding of God as He is revealed through the history books, seeing His purposes revealed in prophecy, being challenged by wisdom, inspired by poetry, awed by Christ in the gospels, exhorted in the letters. Great value indeed! It is like driving on the motorway at 70 mph in fifth or even sixth gear which is perfect when you are faced with a long journey. However this year I am changing gears and perhaps even taking a detour off the motorway. Don’t get me wrong I am not leaving the bible behind instead I am going to pursue slow reading.
In recent years there has been a movement that has developed called the slow food movement. It exists to counter the fast modern junk food environment as a voice of calm and reason, promoting greater enjoyment of food through a better understanding of its taste, quality and production. Following on from this there has emerged the concept of slow reading, which is an encouragement to all readers to calm down, read slowly, absorb, taste the words, think about the sentences, pause and digest them. Slow reading is about meditating on the words before you. What a wonderful way to read the bible. Read it slowly, think about the words, each sentence, digest the truth that is revealed there, contemplate what God is saying through this, and then pray in response to that word. The best bible studies I have been in read the bible in this way as a group, working through a book over many many weeks and months. It is a deep joy to experience God’s voice in this way.
I have benefitted much from being encouraged to read the bible through in a year but I also know that by reading too quickly I have suffered with digestion problems. On our continued journey listening to our Lord there is a place for high gears but also a place for slower more controlled gears and maybe I’ve been neglecting those recently. So this year I will read slowly, not a Psalm a day but a Psalm over a week or two or three. This year I will stop to look at how the poetry works; I will take note of each phrase contemplating the imagery and learn to pause and pray in response.