Reading Vertically (Friday Devotional)

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

- Isaiah 26:3

If you’re reading these words online—which, unless you printed off a copy yourself, you are—then chances are you’re not reading it that carefully. You’re skimming, your eyes racing over the words as quickly as possible so that you can take in the information and then move on to your next task.

Don’t worry, I don’t take it personally—that’s how we read everything nowadays. After years of ubiquitous e-mails, online articles, blog posts, tweets, gifs, and Facebook posts, our brains have been rewired to adjust to the onslaught of words and images put in front of them every day. This deluge combined with the constant distractions of modern life—the chirp of a new text message, the ding of another e-mail, the pop-up informing you of a Facebook notification—have taught our brains that anything worth reading must be read quickly.

Essayist and literary critic Sven Birkerts calls this “horizontal reading,” where your eyes skim along the surface of the words just long enough to receive the necessary information. This kind of reading has always existed, but it was once mostly limited to things like recipes or receipts. Now we read most everything horizontally, and “vertical reading”—where you are reading slowly enough to let the words soak in, where you are so deeply involved in what you’re reading that you lose track of time—requires legitimate effort.

This move from vertical to horizontal, from diving deep to skimming the surface, has an impact on you spiritually too. When you’re used to reading stories just long enough to grasp the plot, it’s tough for the messages of Scripture to penetrate your soul. When you’re used to “multitasking”, i.e. being distracted at all times, focused prayer can feel nearly impossible.

The truth is, growing closer to God is something that takes time, energy, and focus. Spiritual maturity is not something that happens via a 30 second prayer while you brush your teeth or by skimming a devotional while you wait in line at the grocery store. Knowing God better comes by giving Him what we struggle to give anyone or anything: undivided attention.

So as you close this devotional and move on to the next e-mail, or check Facebook, or open up a YouTube video, let me invite you first to find a window of time today when you can set aside all distractions and listen to what God has to tell you. When your eyes are fixed on Him, when you read His Word vertically instead of horizontally, you may be surprised how much you really learn.