As women, we have so many things vying for our time. Whether it’s meal preparation, kissing boo-boos, folding mountains of laundry, or spending the day at the office. No matter the stage of life, there are always distractions.
Our days quickly become so crowded with urgency that we forget to pay attention to the things that are vitally important. It is as if we are living in houses with termites eating through the foundation, but a grease fire breaks out on the stove. We hurriedly reached for the baking soda to put it out, and while we avoided that crisis, the rain started leaking into the dining room. We can’t live in a puddle, so we take care of this quickly as well.
Issue after issue presents itself, and we forget that there are termites eating away at the foundation of our house. It might take a while, but those unattended termites will obliterate the house and render it beyond repair. We knew that this would happen, and really, a five-minute call to the exterminator could have prevented it, but all of the little, urgent things kept crowding the most important needs out. It is the same way with our Bible study habits.
Sisters, the habit of writing God’s word on our hearts is one of the most important things we could be spending our time developing. In his farewell address, Moses highlighted the importance of continually keeping this message in the forefront of our minds.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 reads:
“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Moses wasn’t just writing to the priests or the leaders, he was writing to all of God’s people. It was their job as individuals to keep the love of God’s word alive in themselves and in their households. This responsibility hasn’t changed.
One of the most common questions I hear among women is…
“How in the world do you have time for deep and meaningful Bible study”
First of all, this is a misnomer to some extent. You will never wake up one day and just have extra time on your hands. If Bible study is important to you, you have to MAKE the time. Just like the five-minute call to the exterminator, you just have to do it.
Satan is a master at distraction and if he cannot derail you and cause you to do what you shouldn’t, he will make you so busy that you forget to do the things that you should. He knows that eventually the foundation will weaken, and your house will collapse if it isn’t tended to.
My number one tip to make Bible study easier for our busy lives is to find an audio Bible you enjoy. Choose one book and listen to that book over and over again for an entire month. By listening to a whole book in one sitting, you gain an understanding of the overall context, and by listening repeatedly, you will begin to pick up on patterns and repeated words throughout the text. Sometimes things that you might miss when you skim over a passage with your eyes will stand out to your ears.
There are so many times when our hands are too busy to pick up a physical book, but we can redeem that time and use it to fill our hearts with God’s word. Driving to work? Folding laundry? Cooking dinner? Waiting for your kid to come out of piano lessons? Rescue these little moments! You will be surprised how quickly the time adds up.
I can already hear your objection,
“But my kids are little/my coworkers are needy/I can’t predict my husband’s schedule and I can’t possibly listen to an entire book of the Bible without interruptions!”
You are right, and there will always be interruptions. That is one of the beautiful things about immersing yourself in a book for an entire month. If you listen to the book of Philippians (which only takes 15 minutes by the way) each day in the month of October, that gives you 31 repetitions. Even if you miss some verses here or there because you are dealing with kiddos or tending to work, you will be surprised at how much familiarity you have gained with that book by the end of the month.
Many of us grew up singing the song about the wise man who built his house upon the rock. It is likely that our children joyfully hum the tune in the backseat of our car on the way home from Bible class.
Sometimes the simplest truths are those that we need to revisit time and time again.
What was it that made the wise man’s foundation strong in Matthew 7:24-25? Take a minute and read it. Go ahead, I’ll wait…According to verse 24, the wise man is the one who “hears the word of God and acts on it.”
No matter how strong the winds were or how much flooding came, the house founded on the rock stood fast. We live in a world where the flood waters are continually rising, and the winds pound relentlessly at our door. Only immersion in God’s word and acting on what we learn can give our lives the stability they need.
So, sisters, I’ll leave you with one final question: what commitment will you make today to make up that foundation?
Kristy Huntsman
Kristy Huntsman is the editor-in-chief for Come Fill Your Cup and the author of three books in the Finer Grounds Bible Study series published by Kaio Publications. She and her husband Lance attend the Stonewall Church of Christ where Lance is the minister. She is a homeschooling mom of two sweet girls, Taylor (14) and Makayla (11). Kristy has a master’s degree in biblical studies from the Bear Valley Bible Institute as well as Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Music Performance. She continues her education by pursuing specialized certifications in biblical languages from the Biblical Mastery Academy.
