Last year I was expounding the Book of Colossians in these letters. I am considering changing that to another book of the Bible, but for now I would like to share with you from Psalm 33 on the subject of personal devotions. If you have time right now, why not be blessed by reading that Psalm?

It seems that we meet so many hindrances when it comes to personal devotions; perhaps the most common is that we feel we are too busy and battle to find time for devotions in the midst of our many responsibilities. I would like to suggest that there are at least two misconceptions which lead us to think that spending time alone with the Lord will prevent us from fulfilling our responsibilities.

Firstly, there is a misunderstanding of how the world works and how the Christian life works. The world is totally dependent on God for all things: "when you take away their breath, they die . . . when you send forth your Spirit, they are created " (Psalm 104:29-30). By communing with God we derive strength to fulfil our responsibilities. To think that we can save time by missing out on fellowship with with God is like saying that we can save time by not eating! That neglect will catch up with us after two days at the most!

Secondly, there is a misunderstanding that our lives can be divided into spiritual and secular parts. Personal devotion falls into the spiritual part along with church attendance, evangelism, Christian service, etc.. These are our spiritual duties and we often live with a vague sense of guilt that we are not carrying them out as faithfully as we should. On the other hand, we have our secular responsibilities - work, family life, etc. - and these seem to be in competition with the spiritual duties. Although we confess that, for the sake of our Christian witness, we must be faithful in these areas, there is often an underlying feeling that they compete with spiritual duties - and that our Christian duties make it difficult to fulfil the secular responsibilities.

What we need is to understand that ALL our God-given responsibilities are spiritual, and that we depend on God to make us faithful and give us success in EVERY area of life. Moreover, God is involved in our lives and delights to help us in everything we do. The value of personal devotion is that it helps us to express our dependence on God and to find the strength and guidance we need to glorify him in our work, our family life, our church life and our hobbies. Spending time in communion with God adds no more to our pressures than does eating or sleeping.

Now what does Psalm 33 say to us on this subject?

1. We need a perception of God's greatness and of his involvement in the world

Psalm 33:6-7 reads, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses." Contemplating creation is always a good way to be reminded of God's power; but it is important to remember that that power is exercised moment by moment. The recent tsunamis are a graphic reminder of what happens when God decides for a brief moment not to "put the deeps in storehouses". In nature, God's almighty power interacts with our lives day by day, reminding us of his love and of our dependence upon him. Such practical matters as our daily food, our health, the effective functioning of our cars, appliances and plumbing are all in the hands of our loving heavenly Father.

God's power is not only seen in nature: "The Lord brings the counsels of nations to nothing, he frustrates the plans of the peoples" (Ps 33:10). Our mighty Creator is involved in the affairs of mankind. This includes the rulers of our nations as well as our bosses, employees, associates, colleagues and service providers. In every interaction we are dependent on God's grace and power.

2. God observes our hearts

"The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; . . . he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds" (Ps 33:13,15).

God is concerned about our deeds and our attitudes. His involvement in our meals, our cars, our trading and our working relationships is not unrelated to our attitude to him. He acts one way in our lives when we look to him in humble dependence and another way when we ignore him in proud independence. He wants us to understand and take to heart that "[t]he king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue" (Ps 33:17). In contemporary terms, we might say, "The student does not succeed by his intelligence nor the businessman by his long hours and hard work. Vast sums of money and the latest technology do not protect us from sickness or from failure in life."

"Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, . . . that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine" (Ps 33:18-19).

3. How do we respond?

The psalmist wisely teaches us by example how we are to respond to the realities of God's power and presence and to our utter dependence on him: "Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you" (Ps 33:20-22).

Of course, there are many ways in which we express this waiting on the Lord; but one of the most practical and important is our personal devotions. In our daily communion with God we continually renew our focus on him. We are reminded of his power and sovereignty, not simply as abstract theological propositions but as practical realities that determine the success of our labour, the peace and happiness in our marriages, the way our children grow up, our financial security, and everything else about our lives. By drawing near to God in the word and in prayer we are enabled to rest in him and trust in him; we are instructed in how he wants us to live for his glory; we express our dependence on him; and he responds by acting powerfully in every area of our lives. The practical benefit of meaningful daily devotions is a life of fellowship with God in which we experience true peace and orderliness. Truly, there is no other way to a peaceful and orderly life.

4. In Christ

As in every aspect of the Christian life and every part of Scripture we must ask how this is fulfilled in Christ. Let me suggest three ways. Firstly, Christ in his humanity gave us an example of daily communion with God in prayer: "And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed" (Mark 1:35). Christ, though he was (and is) God, was still dependent on the means of grace as a man: he prayed. Thus he shows us what perfect humanity is like. He shows us what our lives will be like if we are transformed into his image. In the midst of busyness and responsibilities we will pray.

More than that, our humanity is restored in Christ. If we have to confess to dismal failure in the area of personal devotions, we must be encouraged to come to Christ for forgiveness and transformation: we as believers have "put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Col 3:10). As we struggle to find time, as we battle against feelings of indifference towards God, as we battle with disorganized private lives, let us look to Christ as the one who will renew his own image in us - including a commitment to daily communion with his Father and our Father.

Thirdly, let us remember that personal devotions are no mere spiritual duty. They are an opportunity of fellowship with the Creator of the universe. God himself loves to have fellowship with us. He so desires this fellowship that he did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all - in order to remove all barriers to fellowship between himself and us. One of the most practical outworkings of the death and atoning work of Christ is that we can draw near to God daily to commune with him through his word and through the gift of prayer. The preciousness of this gift should be measured by the cost that the Father and the Son were willing to pay to make it possible.

5. Taste and see

In conclusion, let us be encouraged to "taste and see". Let us renew our commitment to spending time daily with God in prayer and in the word. As we do so we will taste the goodness of fellowship with God; we will experience the reality of a peaceful and orderly life; we will find strength in God for the stresses and conflicts that we encounter at work and at home.

Far from being a mere spiritual duty, personal devotions are an opportunity to experience warm, loving fellowship with our heavenly Father. Far from being another item on our to-do list that potentially robs us of time which is already too scarce, daily time spent with God gives clarity to our vision, order to our schedules, and strength to our souls.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness
Till all our strivings cease:
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

John Greenleaf Whittier

The Lord bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you.

Bruce Button