IOUS

(Some shots I took at the conference last week)

For several years now I've been following the Robert Murray M'Cheyne daily Bible reading plan. You read about four chapters a day and in one year you'll cover the entire Bible plus the book of Psalms and the New Testament twice. There are a lot of Bible reading plans out there and I would never say that one is better than any other -- different needs, desires, strokes. The important point is to read your Bible.

I started doing this particular program because John Piper mentioned it one December, so I figured I'd join him (that was kind of what he said -- it was a "join me in reading..." kind of thing). Bruce does it as well, so we can say things like, "Wasn't the reading in Isaiah wonderful today?" (That's typically about as deep as we go -- I don't want to give you the wrong idea!)

There are both good things and bad things about following a Bible reading plan and M'Cheyne, to his credit, points them out. He was a young (he died at the age of 29) minister in the Church of Scotland in the first half of the 19th century and he created his eponymous plan so that his congregation might all "feed in he same pastures." So when Bonnie met Mary in the marketplace one might say to the other, "Wasn't the reading in Isaiah wonderful today?" (and possibly go a bit deeper than that).

One of the biggest dangers with a plan like this is that it becomes something one just does every day -- like brushing one's teeth or going to the gym. We must never forget that we are reading the word of God, that the Bible is living and powerful, that it contains the revelation of God's character and person, the message of salvation, and -- that we can read it in the town square if we want to (rather than reading smuggled copies in secret).

BUT -- there's even more to it than that. Lately I have been praying for more of God himself. For more of the Spirit, for every gift he has to give me. In James we're told that we don't have because we don't ask (and we are cautioned to ask for the right things). So I am asking. I want to love God more, to be aware of his presence, to make decisions in my life in light of my position as a child of the King. But it never occurred to me to begin each morning's Bible reading with specific requests until last week.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I've even been praying specifically before my Bible reading. To me it's always been: read the Bible, pray. (Now it's read the Bible, meditate, pray -- but that's a topic for another time.) But last week I heard John Piper say something that gave me a whole new insight on my daily devotion time. This was not the point of his talk, but when I heard it my ears pricked up. (I actually couldn't take notes fast enough to get all of this, so I have been (im)patiently waiting for The Gospel Coalition to post videos of the conference, which they have done. So I scurried over, found the video, moved ahead to where I knew he'd said what I wanted to know -- I thought I was so clever to have looked at the clock so I'd know how far into his talk I needed to go -- and this time took careful notes.)

Piper prays specifically before he reads his Bible. (When he told us this he was so funny. He said that just that morning he was eight verses into Isaiah (he reads M'Cheyne, you see) and suddenly realized he'd forgotten to pray. He was horrified, asked for a do-over. Ha.) This is what he prays (and now it's what I pray too):

Incline my heart to your testimonies
Open my eyes
Unite my heart to fear your name
Satisfy me in the morning

We have just started reading Psalm 119, which is a glorious place to be if your desire is to love God's word. The first letter in Piper's acrostic is from verse 36 in that psalm: "Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!" Incline my heart to your testimonies -- because my heart is deceitful. It does not want to listen to God, much less obey him. Incline my heart to your testimonies, Father!

"Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law" -- another verse (18) from Psalm 119. Piper asked how he could ever expect to see anything wondrous without God's help! Satan doesn't care if we read our Bibles as long as it's a mechanical process -- just something to check off of our to-do list. If we are to see the wondrous things that God has for us we need his help to have our eyes opened, our ears unstopped, our hearts made flesh.

I love this next verse: "Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name." (Psalm 86:11) Make my heart steadfast, loyal, united with you, God.

Finally, Psalm 90:14: "Satisfy [me] in the morning with your steadfast love, that [I] may rejoice and be glad all [my] days." If we begin our days fully satisfied with God and his word (and there is nothing else that can pull this off) we can move through the rest of our days with confidence and joy and steadfastness.

So try it: IOUS. Or IOUs, if you prefer (but don't forget the "S"!). By keeping these joyful prayers in mind my daily reading will never be a rote duty, but I will be reminded of the power that I hold in my hands.