Recently I was flipping through the open tabs on the internet browser on my phone, and I joked to my teenage daughter that 67 tabs might be too many. She agreed with more enthusiasm than I thought was necessary, expressing her disbelief that I didn’t have those tabs organized into folders.
I hate to admit it, because I consider myself fairly tech savvy, but I was not aware organizing my tabs into folders on my phone was a thing I could do. (Don’t tell my daughter. I totally played it cool, and I’m sure she believed my act that I totally knew what she was talking about.)
After I figured out how to organize my tabs into folders, I went about doing just that. I created a folder for all my word games, the daily ones I play each morning. Then I created a folder called, “Keep,” for articles that resonated deeply with me sometime over the past couple of years. Those words meant so much to me that I couldn’t force myself to close out the tabs; instead, I kept them open to return to and re-read every once in a while.
Next up, I created a folder called, “Info.” That’s where I moved helpful articles with information I knew I’d need in the future. But as I flipped through my remaining tabs, I must have clicked the wrong button.
Suddenly, all my tabs disappeared. Poof! Gone! I couldn’t find an “undo” button. I couldn’t fix this mistake. All my precious information — lists and tips and statistics and recommendations and recipes and ideas — was gone.
What struck me most as I sat there staring at my phone in disbelief was how deeply grieved I was by this loss.
Why was I so genuinely sad to have lost the information contained in those tabs? Was it really crucial to my life, to my well-being? Was I ever going to actually implement the ideas or suggestions contained on those web pages? If I never remember all the tabs that were closed out, am I truly unable to find what I need to make good choices, to go about my life?
Oof. There it was. Analyzing my reaction led to stepping on my own toes with the realization that I was looking to the internet and all the information it holds for wisdom. I was putting my trust and my faith in clever tweets and pretty infographics and insightful articles and brilliant lists.
Listen. I’m not saying God got a hold of my iPhone and erased all those bookmarked websites I’d been collecting for years. But He absolutely used the situation to tap on my shoulder and open my eyes to a hard truth.
See, several months ago I began a Bible-reading plan with hopes to read through the entire Bible in a year. After a few days, I developed a pretty solid routine of listening to my assigned chapters while getting ready in the morning. No, it wasn’t a quiet hour in my special chair with an Instagrammable cup of coffee. But it was a fresh way to hear the Word, a practical way to fit it into my everyday habits.
And it worked perfectly . . . until it didn’t. Before I knew it, I opened up my Bible app to see “missed 188 days” staring at me. Day after day, I’d loosened my grip on Scripture until I had skipped reading the Bible considerably more days than I’d followed through on my plan. Meanwhile, my precious bookmarked websites had been ripped out of my hands the day I accidentally deleted those tabs.
Since the disappearance of my beloved tabs, I’ve been thinking about Proverbs and how it compares wisdom (the kind we find in God’s Word) to precious stones, highlighting just how valuable Scripture is. Proverbs 8:10-11 says, “Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it.”
How many tabs do you have open? How precious are they to you? Or, more to the point, where are you seeking wisdom, and on what are you relying? Is your faith in your own knowledge or the information you can find with a few clicks and scrolls? Or are you turning to Scripture for answers, comfort, and guidance?
If you find yourself looking to the internet or your friends or books or even “common sense” for wisdom more than you find yourself in Scripture, you might be in the same boat as me.
Today I’m setting a new goal. Not to read through the Bible in a year (although I still hope to do that someday), but to read the Bible more days than I don’t. I’m asking God to help me grab onto Scripture and hold it close to my heart while holding all other so-called wisdom loosely.
Will you join me? Will you pray with me? Let’s invite God to increase our thirst for His Word and our faith in His Wisdom.
Dear God, forgive me for relying on the world’s wisdom and putting my faith in information I can find on my own. Please loosen my grip on everything the world has to tell me and point my eyes to you and your infinite knowledge and love. Give me a desire to read Your Word, and show me exactly how to make the Bible my go-to resource. Help me learn to turn to you before I open another tab. Show me once again how your Word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Thank you, Lord — for giving us true wisdom and for helping me come back to it and to You. Amen.
Amen! Thank you for this. God has been nudging me to spend more time reading and absorbing His actual Word. Even though I may read 4 or 5 really good devotionals every day, they shouldn’t replace actually reading the Bible. Devotionals are good and God can speak to us through other people’s words, (like today), but I should not neglect reading and heeding the words of God Himself! I pray that as each of us continue to open the Word of God, He will make it come alive and real in our hearts.
Thank you for that prayer, Judy! I join you in that!
Oh, dear Mary! Amen amen amen! I confess I’m days behind on my daily reading plan & your post makes me want to take the day off work & get caught up yet I know it’s not about checking off the boxes but the spending time with God in His Word. Seeing the character of our Lord. Drawing me to reverence & worship that is the beginning of wisdom. Thank you for spurring me toward seeking true wisdom!
Ahhhh, that reverence and worship are key components to this discipline, aren’t they? Thank you for that reminder, Ruth!
AMEN! Our pastor said something last night that really stuck with me and this reminded me of it. He said “God will set your field on fire to get your attention”. We’re in 2 Samuel and Absalom set Joab’s field on fire to get his attention and Brother Skip said God does the same thing sometimes in ways to get our attention; to wake us up. Anyways I thought it was cool and wanted to share! 🙂
Whoa. Even hearing that gets my attention! Thank you for sharing what your pastor said, Amy!
Mary thank you for this. What you said was so true. We can become to use our as an idol. That we spent more time on them that with God. When something happens like it do you. You lost Mary all your apps on your phone because you hit the wrong bottom. How we panic. Oh oh why did I hit the wrong bottom why I not more careful. We then go in a grief mood. As all our important stuff is gone and think we thought would be safe on our phones. Nothing is safe in the world. Not even in our phones. We come we rely on them and things in this world that our temporay. As nothing in this world is made to last not even life it’s self. So we have to get back to basics God has said when we did without phones before they were invented. In thoes days we did manage very well. If saved in thoes days of no phones or internet. We got we were not looking up Google for the answer to our problems and other be things. We would go to God all the time and read his word and say our prayers. Listen to his Holy Spirit for the answers and wrote important things down and kept notes from important and photo from people and we have taken. Let get we spend less time of our phone and the internet more time with God. Love Dawn Ferguson-Little
Such a good reminder that even gifts and good things can become idols. Thanks for sharing your insight, Dawn!
Yes, Mary, I hear you loudly. I remy on those articles and others too. Byt my problem is probably because I don’t understand so much. I read my Bible every day but feel like I am going through the motions. To be honest, I rarely get it. What am I supposed to learn from the passage, what is it telling me? So I find it easier to go to other sources to fill the void. I appreciate what you wrote. I am going to try harder, I hope!
Madeline, I wonder if the reading plan and app I’ve been (slowly) using might be helpful for you. It’s called The Bible Recap, and after reading 2-3 chapters of the Bible, you listen to a short (less than 10 minutes) podcast episode that explains what you just read. The host is really smart and pulls out wisdom that I would never have gotten on my own! You could even start in the New Testament, if the Old Testament is tricky for you.
Wise words, Mary! Thank you!
Thank you for being here, Irene!
Thank you for this write up. I have actually had to shut my phone off after six pm or I would be scrolling etc. In the mornings I have to keep it off or I could not focus on the scripture. The enemy tries to distract us with all this information, but we need to come humbly before the throne and worship the Lord.
What a great discipline. I’d be served well by turning off my phone in the evenings, for sure!
Thank you – from a woman who currently has 176 open tabs
Oof. That’s a lot. (I say, as my eyes scan the dozens of open tabs on my laptop.) You’re not alone.
Mary if I was sitting with you as you shared these words and prayer, you’d notice I had a blank look on my face. “Is she listening?” Then you’d come by my side with a kleenex because the tears would be running down my face. I’m sure there would be a hug as well. I feel like I’m in neutral in so many areas of my walk and life. Just going through the motions like I’ve lost my thirst for God. What happened!? Lucretia’s message yesterday really resonated with me too. The garden, the growth, the waiting…saying yes but doing nothing!
I can’t remember a time so neutral. So disconnected, but connected????
Time to unplug everything and get back to the basics! God’s word. Stop talking. Listen. Listen to the wise women God has put on my path and in my life.
Thank you Mary
Janet, I’m so grateful our words are encouraging you this week. You’re not alone in needing to unplug and connect more with the Lord. We’re in it together!
Well said, and AMEN! Thank you for this post!
Thank you for being here, Sabrina!
Mary,
I don’t use apps. My phone is only used for talking, texting & listening to music at work some. That said I’m behind on my Bible reading also by 89 days. It is easy to slip into “worldly wisdom” mode. Face book is my nemesis. I can scroll through it for hours, thus taking time away from God & His word. May God help me crave His word more!
Blessings 🙂
I’m also trying to read my Bible in a year again, this time chronologically, which has proved to be a good method for me. Alas, I’m also a few days behind and hope to catch up over the next couple days. The plan I’m using is 6 days per week so theres a built-in buffer for procrastinators like me, yet sometimes I still fall behind. Electronics are a pitfall for me as well. I read the chapters for the day first, then go back and read the study notes, which are really good (so I’m reading double!). Praying it will help me retain God’s word!
Blessings and prayers for good reading habits to us all!