Quiet Time

The Quiet Time (QT) workshop refreshed my heart to learn anew what QT is, and to consider the motivations and blessings of QT.

One common thing for all the biblical examples given at the workshop was that they deeply desired for God’s presence, and that led them each to take the action to seek God. For all of them, the action to seek God was not out of mere convenience, but out of deep commitment to put God as their first priority, to pay the price, or to risk their lives to meet God, and to intentionally put aside all things to sit down at the feet of Jesus.

As we looked at the motivations for QT, the reasons all started similarly with “I want to…”. It was refreshing to consider “what do I want/ desire” through QT, especially through Jeremiah 9:23-24.

"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴: '𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴: 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵,' 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋." (𝘑𝘦𝘳 9:23-24)

If all I want from QT is to have something impressive to share, then I reduce spending time with God to simply a time to boast of my own wisdom. If what I want from QT is to check off a to-do list, then QT is a mere task, and not a joyful devotion to God. I learnt that it is important to be personally convicted about having QT – because it is where the desire, devotion and joy of spending time with God comes from. My application is to write out my personal convictions for QT and paste it on my devotional diary, so that as I come before God’s presence daily, I can be reminded of these convictions.

1 October 2020