Taking the Time to Let God’s Word Soak In

By Jessica Brodie

As a long-haired lady, I always condition my hair when I wash it. When I’m in a rush, I glob the product on, then rinse it out right away. But when I want to take my time and do things right, I make an effort. I massage the conditioner in, let it sit several minutes in the nice steamy shower, really saturating the strands of hair, then finally rinse it out, sometimes even doing a cool-water rinse just for extra oomph.

(Bald/short-hair friends, bear with me!)

Most everything in life turns out better when we give it the proper time, doesn’t it? My spaghetti sauce tastes better when I let it simmer, and fine wine is supposed to age awhile before it’s considered the “good stuff.” But we get so busy in life. We take shortcuts instead of savoring the scenery, blast through the day, even sometimes find ourselves rushing through important things like Bible reading or quality time with our loved ones to get on to the “next thing.”

When we rush through everything in this way, we don’t always let things sink in properly.

In the Bible, the apostle James urges us, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it” (James 1:22-25 NLT).

I think of those times I’m super-busy, glance at my watch to check the time, then realize I was moving so fast I didn’t even absorb what I’d read on my wrist—and have to check the time again!

Like conditioning my hair, marinating a gorgeous steak, or making delicious spaghetti sauce, good things take time. The time we spend with the Lord is no different.

If you find yourself so busy you go to church but barely hear the message, listen to Christian radio but can’t even recall the words, or read Scripture but can’t really remember the point of the passage, check yourself. We need to stop and truly hear it, read it, soak it in, for it to take up residence in our hearts and lives and blossom into the glory of God.

Slow down. Breathe. Take your time when you engage with God.

Some things can wait.

Prefer video? Check out Jessica’s YouTube devotional on this topic, here: