Welcome to the fifth edition of 'Question of the Week'! Remember you can answer the question at any time--no deadline, intended. Also you can write me with suggestions for future questions! I'd love to hear from readers, always.My question this week:
What do you do in the in-between times? Those times when you are in-between-Bibles or in-between-books of the Bible, or in-between Bible studies. Do you ever feel a bit lost, a bit unsure of where to go next? what to read or study next? It's not that you don't want to read--you do--it's just you may be a bit indecisive OR you may be a bit overwhelmed with all the choices.
My answer:
I seem to get in-between stages often. When I'm in the middle of a book, I'm going great. Everything is in place. I'm settled. But when I've just finished one thing, and I don't have a goal set on what to do next...I can sometimes spend a day or two in the in-between-what-am-I-gonna-do place. People with Bible reading plans get told what to read next. But for those of us making up our plans as we go along, there's always this what should I read...do I want to do this or that...maybe it's just a personality thing? Maybe people are more decisive than I am. Maybe my indecisiveness shows up in my spiritual life too. Who knows?
What do I do? I tend to make a stack of Bibles and then I look at each one, feel each one (do I sound like a crazy person yet?), I might open them up and see if I feel 'inspired' or 'annoyed.' I might leave the exact book up to chance. If I've finished an OT book, I might choose a NT...and vice versa. The thing I must remember, is that I've got to stop myself from obsessing. It doesn't matter which Bible I'm reading...as long as I'm reading something. There are no right or wrong choices. It doesn't really 'matter' much if I choose Isaiah over 1 Samuel.
Or maybe you're part of a Bible study group or Sunday School group that has a little indecisiveness issues...as one study is coming to an end...are you puzzling over what to do next? That may not be something that happens to you, but as the teacher of a Sunday School class...it sure can puzzle me! It doesn't help that when I ask for feedback on what to do next all I get are blank stares. (Can you guess what prompted this question???)
4 comments:
This is why a bible reading plan works best for me. If I had to decide myself, I know I would tend to read the same books over and over.
This way, I don't have to think about it much and hopefully, I will find new favorites.
I hear you on this one. I also do not follow a reading plan, not that I am opposed to it, I just don't.
Perhaps this is an area that I need to spend some time praying about and organizing rather than just doing on the fly.
Good question! Left my answer here:
http://cremerfamily.blogspot.com/
For the last two years I've used the inductive Bible Study guide put out by Precepts for Life ministries. There is a daily podcast to go along with each day's reading and it takes several months to get through each Bible book (if I do both the reading and listen to the podcast.) Following the Precepts plan I never have to come up with an idea for a book to study and although it's a lot of work I love that I'm really digging into God's word each day.
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