Recently, prompted by something I read in a blog, I have started writing Scripture and found it to be immensely helpful and spiritually profitable.
I am a fast reader, and one of my problems when reading the Bible, especially for my own benefit and devotions, is that I tend to read quickly and I need some sort of discipline to slow me down so that I take in what I am reading, don’t skip over things, and mediate and internalise the passage in front of me. What I have found is that actually writing out the passage that I am reading slows me right down and forces me to consciously read every word I am writing – even reading it out loud to myself – and so I am seeing so much more in the passage. I also try to pray in each passage I read, as I write it down.
For some time now I have been reading through the Psalms for my own devotions and have reached Psalm 111, having written out the previous 110 psalms. I have also written out the first two chapters of Esther because I recently started a sermon series in that book and have adopted the same discipline.
This is an exercise I would strongly commend to anyone who wants to refresh their approach to reading, studying or meditating on God’s precious word.