Hearing, Praying, and Speaking the Word
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In listening to an old lecture recently by J. I. Packer, he made the comment that it was not until after the 17th century (as far as he could tell) that people started doing silent prayers and reading as opposed to praying and reading out loud.
For most evangelicals, silence represents the vast majority of our reading and praying. But I wonder if that's to our detriment. One of the great enemies to Bible reading and praying is a wandering mind--and one of the great ways to make your mind wander is to do everything in your mind without involving your voice and ears!
With regard to reading the Word, one thing I've found helpful is to hear and read the audio at the same time. For example, in the ESV you can go to Psalm 1. Notice that next to the chapter reference there's a little button where you can listen (for free) to Max McLean read whatever portion of Scripture you've selected.
Here's something else to consider: the entire Bible on audio is usually about 75 hours (or 4500 minutes). If you commute to work 5 days a week, that's about 260 days a year. And if it takes you, say, 17 minutes to commute each way to work--and if you listen to the Bible on audio during your drive each way--you'll get through the entire Bible twice in a year. That's a good start on Psalm 1:2.
For most evangelicals, silence represents the vast majority of our reading and praying. But I wonder if that's to our detriment. One of the great enemies to Bible reading and praying is a wandering mind--and one of the great ways to make your mind wander is to do everything in your mind without involving your voice and ears!
With regard to reading the Word, one thing I've found helpful is to hear and read the audio at the same time. For example, in the ESV you can go to Psalm 1. Notice that next to the chapter reference there's a little button where you can listen (for free) to Max McLean read whatever portion of Scripture you've selected.
Here's something else to consider: the entire Bible on audio is usually about 75 hours (or 4500 minutes). If you commute to work 5 days a week, that's about 260 days a year. And if it takes you, say, 17 minutes to commute each way to work--and if you listen to the Bible on audio during your drive each way--you'll get through the entire Bible twice in a year. That's a good start on Psalm 1:2.
posted by JT at Thursday, March 27, 2008
13 Comments:
The last paragraph sounded like an SAT question!
I can say that I benefit highly when listening to the Bible along with reading. I have a 45 minute commute each way, so if its not a lecture, debate, or podcast from Michael Patton, its usually the Word. Even in my personal study I read out loud as opposed to just attempting to internalize it. Much more engaging.
I did just this very thing on February 29 this year.
Even while driving I was still able to give proper focus on the Scripture text.
I'm always looking for ways to help me focus. I wonder how many hours of reading I have wasted by allowing my mind to be somewhere else.
Thanks!
I love the audio feature on the esv website. That should be very helpful to those who read Scripture in the public gathering of the church (especially when we come across difficult to pronounce names and places).
Along the lines of audible reading of scripture, I think we often lose sight of the fact that the church, through the majority of its history, has had to rely on the corporate, audible reading of scripture for the instruction of its people. People couldn't read and didn't have Bibles of their own - in order to learn the word, they had to gather and hear it being read.
It is a huge blessing for so many people to be so educated and for Bibles to be so widely available, and we are correct to avail ourselves of the blessing of private study and devotion (audible or otherwise).
However, I wonder if we have lost out on a lot of the blessing of reliance on corporate gathering and audible reading of the word to the people of God. Even if we are still diligent in gathering for it, I wonder if we tend to take the corporate proclamation of the gospel and reading of scripture for granted, because we read it ourselves all week long.
I am often challenged to more diligently focus and meditate on the corporate reading of the word, as if it were my only opportunity to receive the word.
Packer makes that argument in his book Praying. After reading it, I try to do a lot more prayer and scripture reading out loud. It has helped me concentrated and process what I'm saying and reading.
That's an interesting pair of insight which we have sort of discovered in my sunday school class:
[1] reading the word out loud makes the word accessible. My personal model for Sunday school teaching is that the scripture gets the front-row and the center place, and then we look back at what we read to make sure we "get" what the word says. I got that idea from the most profitable classes I took in Grad school 20 (!) years ago, and from Nehemiah 8.
[2] Our small groups are for prayer and fellowship, and we pray for an hour together either before or after a meal. The common experience has been a surprise that if we are praying together, we can do better than 90 or 120 seconds of focus on the idea that God is with us and listening to us.
Excellent post, and great advice.
Thanks for the post and for the link to ESV Bible Online. I noticed that there is also the option to read the Bible chronologically on that website.
Frank's method of his Sunday School also looking back upon what they've read sounds good.
I think a time for both silent and outloud reading of Scripture (or prayers), or reading a passage outloud more than once would be ideal for gatherings.
I think I do not always extract too much out of the Scriptures when it is read one time outloud at Bible studies or from prayers said outloud when I haven't had the chance to really look at the prayer and think about whether or not I mean it.
In short, I think some kind of combination of silent and out loud reading and prayer would be nice ~
I tend to unconsciously shift in "skim" mode when I'm reading. For me, listening to a Bible recording seems to help (as long as I don't let it retreat into the background noise).
After several years of desiring the NASB on MP3, a good friend and I contacted Lockman [again!] and asked for permission to do it ourselves...from scratch.
Several months later, here it is, for fellow NASB readers/listeners.
We're also thinking about breaking it into 30- or 40-minute chunks to go with a daily workout: physical and spiritual. Feedback/market research is appreciated.
When the Reformation Study Bible was realeased it came with a CD of Romans(ESV)read by Max Mclean. Some time during December of last year I decided to use my 30 minute commute to and from work to memorize the book of Romans. I guess I am an aural learner because, by the grace of God, I have the first 6 chapters memorized already. It has been a great help to my soul to hear the Word every day for an hour in the car, and I would honestly miss comuting to work for this very reason.
I'd really appreciate a link for the packer talk if it's available or a text version if anyone know of one.
Silent reading was definately a rarity in Augustines time. I remember that in Confessions he spends about a page talking with wonder about his mentor reading silently, ending with the conclusion (paraphrased) "I don't know why he does that but i'm sure he's got a good reason!"
Thank You So much for your blog BTW. You point to so much great stuff and are really a blessing.
I've found myself listening to Max time and time again reading the ESV.
I've gone through Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, The Pastorals, Philemon, James, 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation.
I particularly admire his diction. A great tool!
As I've found through reading Geraldine Rodgers, through most of history, reading was done aloud. (Quotes from her "History of Beginning Reading" and a link to her paper "Why Noah Webster's Way Was the Right Way" can be found on my History of Reading Instruction page: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/historyofreading.html )
She explained in one of her books that that is how Philip knew what the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8 was reading and was able to ask him "Do you understand what you are reading?"
Also, in her History of Beginning Reading, page 1126 she states,
"Oral reading was the norm as late as the time of St. Augustine of Hippo in the fourth century. W. J. Frank Davies quoted St. Augustine’s surprised comments on seeing St. Ambrose reading silently, in Teaching Reading in Early England, Pitman Publishing, London, 1973, page 78"
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