One of the most important aspects of a shepherd’s life and ministry is probably one of his most common struggles – his devotional life.
I have to admit I’ve wrestled with my devotional life for years. I’ve especially noticed the struggle since I entered the ministry. I know I’m not alone in this. Few are the shepherds I’ve met who don’t struggle with some aspect of their devotional lives. I think every shepherd of the Lord at some point ends up wrestling with different aspects of his devotional life – the time of day; the length of time for devotions; the tension between ministry time, devotional time and personal time; which resources to use and how many; the length of readings and time to meditate on them; whether to use a lectionary or not; how much time to devote to prayer; and a variety of others. Plus there’s probably a little guilt mixed in there when one’s personal devotions seem to stall or get rushed on a regular basis, which then leads to inconsistent reading, disjointed meditation and shallow prayers. Then there’s the question to consider – how well can a shepherd feed his flock when he is allowing his own soul to starve?
So what does a shepherd do? With prayerful consideration, he takes some time to honestly evaluate his current devotional regimen and asks a number of questions.
- What resources am I using?
- Have I considered supplementing my Bible reading with brief readings from the Confessions or from other devotional resources?
- Are my readings each day too much for one sitting? Would smaller portions serve me better?
- Have I set aside enough time to go through my readings carefully and ponder what’s being said there, as well as time for prayer on the basis of the reading?
- Do I have a regular time each day for my spiritual reading?
- Have I set realistic goals for my spiritual reading? Have I realized that cultivating my spiritual reading doesn’t happen overnight, but is an ongoing process of struggle, growth and blessing with God’s help?
- Do I have a plan for which he will put time and effort?
- Overall, what has been working? What isn’t working? What could be improved and what should I continue?
The shepherd realizes his failures and frailties, but realizes that with the Lord’s forgiveness and help, he can cultivate a deeper personal devotional life of continued study of the Word supplemented by the writings of those who have struggled in the faith before him. So where does he go from here?
One of the first places I would recommend would be the latest issue of Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly (Vol. 105:2 – Spring 2008), where Prof. Forrest Bivens provides a lengthy article on Using Devotional Classics.
This article was much more than an arbitrary list of extra-biblical, devotional recommendations to 
supplement one’s Bible reading. Instead Prof. Bivens digs deep into the concept of personal spiritual growth and the role spiritual disciplines can play for good or ill in one’s personal devotional life. He primarily focuses on the ancient discipline of “divine” or “spiritual reading” (lectio divina) – Reading, Meditation, Prayer & Contemplation (92). He takes the reader through the history of this discipline, noting its potential dangers, tensions and challenges. With these in mind, he then highlights the blessings of taking such an approach to the use of devotional materials, particularly if one makes a “long-term commitment” to cultivating “a personal version of the lectio divina” (104). He concludes with some final encouragements, some sample exercises, and some personal, qualified recommendations (with caveats where necessary). Personally I found the article quite enlightening and worthy of a careful read. This is not an article you want to rush through (nor is it really possible!), and I wonder if that was perhaps the author’s intent.
On the same subject of “spiritual reading”, I would also recommend C.J. Trapp’s translation of Luther’s A Simple Way to Pray. It’s quite brief, VERY affordable and a gem even for today. Luther’s principles are just as applicable today and are quite similar to the lectio divina.
In the last week or so, there were also a couple announcements about devotional resources coming soon from Concordia Publishing House – The Lutheran Study Bible and The Treasury of Daily Prayer. The latter is especially intended for the subject at hand.
These are just a few of the many excellent resources out there available or soon to be available to the Lutheran shepherd in print or in digital format (There’s some great Libronix stuff out there too!). So now it’s your turn to share…
For Discussion: What’s going on in your devotional life? What resources/recommendations/plans would you recommend to a fellow Lutheran shepherd? What are you using now? What have you used repeatedly because it’s worked for you time and again? What’s worked? What hasn’t worked? Other thoughts/ideas/suggestions for a Lutheran shepherd’s personal devotional life?
Feel free to share in the comment section of this post or even by filling out the “Contact Me” form on the blog site. (If you’re getting this by e-mail, you can get to the comment section of the post by clicking on “Comments” at the bottom of this post.)
Thanks for this thoughtful and helpful post. I’ll look forward to reading the journal article.
Thanks for your keen insights into devotional struggles, Jeremiah, and for your helpful suggestions. One thing that I’ve found helpful (and it was actually suggested to me by another) is being held accountable for devotions. Of course, there’s a caveat for this too: The motivation for having devotions can degenerate into nothing more than getting a brother off your back or “showing off” to that brother how much you’ve gleaned. But, realizing that in all our works we have a sinful nature that needs the law as a curb, the positives can outweigh the negatives. An added benefit to this method – besides being edified by the Word of God – is not only a regular devotional regimen, but also regular discussion of the gems you’ve mined from Scripture. Maybe your thoughts are off-base, and the brother to whom you’re accountable can offer you alternative thoughts. Maybe you have more questions than anything else on a particular day… Now you have two heads pondering those questions instead of one. Maybe your thoughts are spot-on, and you’ve not only been built up by the Word, but you’ve also built up that brother with the Word. And the same can be true of all of these from that brother’s point-of-view.
I’ve found that our modern technology can be a great blessing and asset.
Of course I get the daily devotions from our synod which are brief and law-gospel oriented. I appreciate the illustrations and getting a chance to read what a brother with whom I’m in fellowship writes.
For my Bible reading I’m doing the best I have in years. Thanks mostly to http://www.freebibleemail.com. They send me my daily reading in an email every day. I try to stay on top of it, but when I don’t get to it in a given day, the email’s still sitting there gently reminding me to catch up. I get behind from time to time, but with that reminder that I see so often I catch up like I never did with my print Bible. (Maybe we could somehow set this up for Through the Confessions in a Year? Though, I have no clue how that would be done.)
Finally, for my prayer life, I use Google Calendar. I put in a reminder to pray for each family/church/issue each day of the month. I set it to automatically repeat each month. And I set it to send me an email reminder each morning.
When I first sit down to my computer each day, there I have my e-lectio divina so to speak with my devotion, my Bible readings, and my prayer reminders. But I really do need to get back into my confessions. Hey, can you share with me again how I set up my new CPH Book of Concord on CD-R to do a daily lectionary? Maybe I can figure out how to have it automatically email it to me (and whoever else who owns it and is interested in getting such).
Thanks for the encouragement.
Nate,
Thanks for the comment on accountability! That’s one area where I think I, personally, could improve. I agree that there are potential pitfalls for such an approach, but as Proverbs 27:17 tells us, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” (NIV) In the end, the blessings will far outweigh the pitfalls. I’ll definitely keep that in mind as I evaluate my personal devotional regimen in the future! God’s blessings on your own!
Rob,
Thanks for the suggestions! With the improvement and expansion of the Libronix Digital Library System in recent years, there has become more opportunities to use digital resources for personal devotions. Unfortunately Logos doesn’t divide books like the new Concordia like it does the Bibles, which means you couldn’t actually create a “Daily Lectionary” on Libronix as you can with the Bible. The Libronix Lectionary Addin only applies to Bibles.
In spite of that, though, there is a “Read Through the Book of Concord in One Year” plan on the Concordia Digital Edition (exactly as it is in the print edition), where you can click on the reading for the day and it will take you to your reading. To expand your resources a little more, you could set up a “Devotional Reading” workspace with resources you’d like to use for your daily readings. It’s not as easy as a daily e-mail, but it’s a start in the right direction. If you’re interested, I’ve shared my personal version on the Logos for Lutherans Group.
Thanks again for the great ideas! If you come up with that daily Confessions e-mail, please share. God’s blessings as you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!