It’s fall! This is my favorite time of the year when the air is cooler, it’s a little more rainy, and it’s just overall more cozy. It also feels like a signal to slow down. 

I tend to be very progress oriented. I like to feel like I’m always doing something, like I’m not wasting my time. But the Lord has been calling me to slow down lately. I’ve been feeling distanced from Him and I asked Him to help me with that. To grow closer again. 

And He has. He’s been pulling me away from my progress-oriented Bible reading to just spend the time with Him like a friend that I really care about. I’ve been going through a couple of books in the Bible lately, bouncing between about 2 or 3 books primarily depending on my mood or what I feel like I’m supposed to be studying that day. 

But, He pulled me away the other day to read a passage out of Deuteronomy. I read Deuteronomy months ago and haven’t really touched it since. I’ve been progressing my way through 2 Kings, looking towards 1 Chronicles as the next book in line.  

I’m glad He drew me to Deuteronomy, though, because it reminded me that my relationship with God isn’t built on making progress through a book, even His book. And I didn’t set out on my journey to read through the whole Bible as a way of making our relationship about that. I did it as a way to get to know Him better. But, somewhere along the way it’s become more of a task to mark off every day than actually getting to know my Father. Slowing down with Him, though, made me more open to using that time the way it’s meant to be: just spending the time with Him. 

That didn’t solve my problem in one go though. The next day I was happy to hop right back into 2 Kings or Isaiah but He brought me instead to Genesis, to creation. To slow down and really read it again with the new perspective of that moment. And this time I saw how intricately intentional and purposeful He was, from the very start. And He doesn’t change, so that means that the same intention He used to create the world is the same intention He uses in every moment of today as well. The same intention He uses with me.

The Bible is a story of grace and mercy and love and goodness. Sometimes we need to slow down a little to be able to remember that. To stop and really notice the God we serve. The God who took pure nothingness, darkness, waters, and made everything. He brought forth light from Himself. He organized the light and the dark into time. He made stars and the sun and the moon. He put them in the sky to provide light, “for signs and for seasons, for days and for years.” He created everything with such intentionality and order. He made the oceans, the earth. The creatures in both as well as in the sky. 

And then He took everything that He made and He made man and gave it to him. God gave us dominion over the things that He made, to treat them well and take care of them. The earth, the oceans, the creatures. To monitor time. To learn from the signs He put in the skies. He gave us science to help us learn about His creations. To share it with us. The God we serve is so intricately organized and intentional. He gets down on our level to share His creations with us. He made this whole place for us, as something to share with us. How amazing is our God? How awesome is our God? 

I’m so thankful that He slowed me down and brought me back. I’m still learning this, still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my entire life’s purpose is not in my progress toward any one goal, a career, or anything earthly. Those things are definitely good. But they’re not the best. My life’s purpose is to get to know my God. To spend time with my Creator. To be His child. 

A good parent doesn’t care if their child does one job over another. They might see one field as being better for them over another, maybe they have an affinity for one over another. But the parent just wants the child to be happy. The career isn’t the end goal. The parent just wants their child to be their child. And that’s all God wants from us. Communion. Relationship. 

He sees my failures and He sees my victories. They don’t sit in a perfect line of continual progress. They fluctuate day to day, sometimes with multiple failures in one day or multiple victories in another. Usually a little of both. 

He reminded me that my time studying His word isn’t meant to just be me progressing through the Bible. If that’s my only goal then by the end of it, I’ve just read a really big book. I haven’t really gotten to know Him. I’ve missed the whole point.

I read His Word to grow closer to Him, to get to know Him better, to better make Him known to others. That’s the point of the progress.

Salvation isn’t found in being able to recite Bible verses at the drop of a hat. Memorizing verses is a great way to keep those truths close at hand when combating the enemy’s lies or testing something to make sure it lines up with God’s truth. But salvation is found in a relationship with God. And that’s a much more freeing thing. Jesus came to set people free. He came to lead people away from the trappings of legalism and into the freedom found in Him. He didn’t come to give us a new form of legalism. The Law is fulfilled by Jesus because He knew we’d never be able to satisfy it on our own. 

Know Him. 

Make Him known. 

Cease striving. 

Take a breath. 

Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He was comparing it to the legalism of the time. Exchange your heavy legalism for the freedom that’s found in Christ. 

So keep going. Don’t use this as an excuse to stop your Bible reading because that’s not what this is. Read. Study. But use it as the tool it is to get to know Him. Don’t make reading the words more important than understanding what they mean and the One who wrote them. God is the goal. Not anything else.