Episode #274 The Joy of Spiritual Discovery – Unforced Rhythms of Grace

​For the past several episodes, we've been exploring the spiritual discipline of study, learning to focus our attention on scripture and nature and our daily lives, and even our own life stories as ways of encountering God more deeply. And today I wanna talk about something that often gets overlooked when we talk about spiritual disciplines, and that's joy. Because study isn't just about dutiful learning, it's about delightful discovery. And if you're like, okay, yeah, nerd, I promise I'm talking about more than just book study.

In Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster is ending his chapter on study with this beautiful reminder and he says, "Study produces joy. Like any novice, we will find it difficult in the beginning. But as we continue, we will enter into a world of adventure and discovery that will bring us great joy."

Even for us book nerds like myself, it's not only meant to be an intellectual, informative pursuit. It's created by God to be a joyful adventure and discovery. And as we apply it as a spiritual discipline, we get to know God more through it. And we get to discover more of who we are becoming in him.

And I wanna. put a plug in here if that sounds impossible to you. Especially if the idea of opening your Bible and having a joy-filled experience with the Lord with scripture feels unfamiliar. My Captivated Playbook is especially for you. It's called a playbook because we get to experience adventure and joy and play with God as we read the Bible. So if you want to experience and enjoy reading the Bible in a way you haven't before, check out the link here in the show notes.

But today we're talking about joy specifically, and I wanna encourage you to think about when a child is learning something new and how their face lights up with wonder and delight as they're starting to master a new skill or grasp a concept that they're excited about. My kids are learning to ride bikes right now, and so that's one of the present examples of this in my life. They are thrilled. Now, it's hard. It's cumbersome at first. There are some spills and tumbles, but when they are able to balance a little bit longer, when they're able to navigate something in a new way, like they are pumped. They can't wait to try again. That same joy is available to us in spiritual study. Not because we're accumulating knowledge, but because we're encountering our living God.

Psalm 19:8 says, "The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes."

God's word doesn't just inform us. It delights us.

As we notice God on display in the world and in his word, we get to discover this same joy. And so as you take note of your life and your circumstances and your walk with God right now, and if your spiritual disciplines start to feel a little more like obligation than invitation, or more like duty than delight, don't get discouraged. You get to reconnect with the joy that comes from discovery.

Ask God to reawaken wonder and curiosity for you. Ask him to help you approach opportunities for study as a treasure to uncover not just a task to complete. And he will continue to do this in ways that surprise you. I had a really fun example of this happen a while back. I actually talk about it in episode 152, but it happened for me with a verse from 1 John 1:5 talking about how God is light. And I was in this journey of actually working on a beckoning to wonder, my poetry collection and looking at how God is light. And I realized in a new way that it wasn't just figurative.

He created light in Genesis before he created the sun. And then he tells us in Revelation 22:5, that there won't be any night and there won't be a need for a lamp or for the sun because the Lord God himself will give us light. This was this opportunity to experience God, to marvel and wonder at him to study and reflect and delight in him in a new way from passages I've read dozens of times before.

And so I encourage you, don't give up on this invitation to receive more joy from the Lord as you walk with him. He will continue to surprise and delight. And this doesn't mean that every moment is gonna be electrifying. Like any discipline, study requires perseverance. Yet, the promise still remains: as we faithfully engage with God he will bring joy to us. He will bring us revelation of himself and he will bring transformation to us. We get to walk in this ever increasing relationship with him, and God is the one who is the source of all joy.

And here are two questions today that you can use to talk with God more about this.

God, what greater joy do you want to bring me in my spiritual life and how do you invite me to receive this from you?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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