From the book “The Power of Stillness” (multiple Authors):
Rather than living by every thought that proceeds forth out of our heads, Christians seek to live “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
That means making it a priority to spend in the texts we believe contain God’s words and His will. But as important as scripture is to followers of Christ, the reality is, our time with these words is subject to the very same set of challenges we’ve explored in preceding chapters when it comes to prayer and Sabbath worship: wandering noisy minds; and inner sense of drivenness to get-things-done; and outer distractions that can fill any bit of reading we attempt.
As a result, reading the scriptures—individually and even more so in a family group—can become a distracting, draining, even empty experience. And who in heavens name (even heavens command) would want to keep doing that?
Like empty prayer or empty church worship, an impoverished practice of scripture reading can be easy to leave behind without sensing we’ve lost much at all (“why waste time on something that’s not doing anything for me?!”) Rather than walking away from scripture however, what if we could recognize the way in which we are walking away from a depleted experience of scripture? And what would it take to more deeply, powerfully, intimately experience His words, rather just letting some words occasionally pass over our minds? Said another way, what would it take to prioritize having an experience with God in the scriptures, rather than just getting it done?
The Mindful Practice Called Scripture Study
Reading a text presents a unique opportunity for another challenge by rewarding mindful practice. That may sound strange especially given how accustomed we’ve been, all the way back to early training, to think of reading as largely about comprehension: Hmmm, those letters mean “cat.” Sacred reading involves more than simply identifying definitions of words, though; its also interpreting the meaning of those words: what does that mean for me, here, right now.
And that’s where all this starts to get really fun. It’s one thing to understand what Isaiah’s word meant for Babylon of his day, and another to consider there general meaning for our day. But it’s a whole other level to find out what meaning God might want you to take away here and now—or, even better, to feel God’s presence in Inspired words that touch you.
No longer just you and a blank page, this is an encounter with God’s words and God’s own spirit in this very moment of your life. Thus as Dallin H. Oaks taught, “We do not overstate the point when we say that the scripture can be a Urim and Thummim to assist each of us to receive personal revelation.” This is all quite different from the way we often speak of scripture—as if it’s more like a chemistry book and our task is to figure out what everything means. This is more enjoyable than chemistry too!
To deeply experience God’s word in this fashion, a little more stillness and silence can go a long way—along with slowing down enough to stay present in the words. Joseph Smith was encouraged to “let the solemnities of eternity to rest upon your minds” (Doctrine and Covenants 43:34). And after five months in Liberty Jail, the Prophet himself reflected, “The things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and pondering and solemn thoughts can only find them out.”2
Still feeling unsteady or unsure you’re up to hearing God’s voice in the scriptures? Here’s all that mindfulness guidance from previous chapters can help, such as: bringing back the wandering mind, accepting discomfort that arises, paying attention to what’s going on in the body, and so on.
And when confusion arises, or you’re just not sure you’re understanding fully, that’s not a problem either.
Not Knowing as Not Scary?
Latter-day Saints recognize that, rather than an aberration in God’s plan, lack of knowing is a central and defining feature of mortal experience. Yes, it’s somewhat counter-intuitive that to become like God we have to leave his side in the cosmos and become ignorant humans. How fascinating; to know as God knows, we must experience mortality through the tiny lens of our own selective bodies and limited life context, without a clear view of our eternal past. But the reality is, in order to spiritually progress we had to forget everything we knew in premortal life, and dive intentionally, knowingly into a daunting embrace of not-knowing. ~~~ Jacob Z. Hess, Carrie L. Skarda, Kyle D. Anderson, Ty R. Mansfield (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book 2019).p.77-80
Rather than seeing this lack of certainty as a sign of failure, our community acknowledges this as a sign of failure, our faith community acknowledges this as a crucial context within which our agency is preserved. In this world one is always provided with sufficient materials out of which to fashion a life of credible conviction or dismissive denial.” Terryl and Fiona Givens note. The thing that “tips the scale, they suggest is the fact that each individual is truly free to choose belief or skepticism, faith or faithfulness.”3
In comparison, imagine if God made crystal clear His will to all humankind—whether they wanted it or not. That would change things and not in a good way.
Remarkably, it is in the lack of clarity, the confusion, and the slow progression to knowing (from constantly changing states of not knowing) that our growth and learning happen—and the freedom to direct our lives is preserved! ~~~ Jacob Z. Hess, Carrie L. Skarda, Kyle D. Anderson, Ty R. Mansfield (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book 2019).p.77-80 (For a related post from the same authors, click. . . . “Faith Struggles”).
