Mind wandering during Bible study
Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:23 pm
In a recent Narrow Path episode, a caller talked to Steve about his difficulty reading the Bible, how his mind wandered, and he found it hard to focus. Personally, I have this issue as well, but I have come up with some personal strategies that I would like to share.
1) I have classical music playing in the background. I suppose people have different tastes for music, but for me It must be instrumental, words would be too distracting. For whatever reason, the pleasant sound of the music somehow occupies the easily distracted part of my mind, and helps me focus more on scripture.
2)When I sit down with my Bible, I don't just read, but study. I have commentaries and dictionaries and parallel Bibles open, and to me, that is way more engaging than just sitting with a Bible alone. Every time I read through a book, new things stick out to me, and new things stir my interest. To be able to consult reference materials makes study much more engaging. websites like esv.org, biblegateway.com, ccel.org, studylight.org, biblehub.com, and bibleatlas.org are all tabs I have open on my internet browser during study. These are all free and great resources. Personally, I have found centuries old commentaries like John Gill, Adam Clarke and Matthew Henry to be far more instructive and helpful than anything I have found in a Christian bookstore, and they are free and immediately available. I don't use Study Bibles, because they are limited to the space they can fit between two covers, and so the notes are really sparse and not very in depth. Commentators like the above mentioned are not only deeper and more thorough, but quite edifying as well.
3) For just plain reading, consider audio editions. All major Bible editions have audio editions. For most of Church history, Christians were by and large illiterate, and most of the saints throughout history have heard scripture read, and not read it themselves. To hear the narrative forces attention because even if your mind wanders, the narration on the CD or mp3 continues, and draws you back in. A lot of these audio Bibles are dramatized, and have background music as well. I'm a slow reader, but listening can cover a lot of ground much faster.
4) Finally, If my mind is really wandering, I find that if I have the discipline to sit still and make it through just one chapter, anything I read after that goes much smoother. I may drift away and have to refocus a bunch of times, but if I stick with it, it gets much better.
So those are some personal insights, hopefully if anyone has this problem, this can help.
1) I have classical music playing in the background. I suppose people have different tastes for music, but for me It must be instrumental, words would be too distracting. For whatever reason, the pleasant sound of the music somehow occupies the easily distracted part of my mind, and helps me focus more on scripture.
2)When I sit down with my Bible, I don't just read, but study. I have commentaries and dictionaries and parallel Bibles open, and to me, that is way more engaging than just sitting with a Bible alone. Every time I read through a book, new things stick out to me, and new things stir my interest. To be able to consult reference materials makes study much more engaging. websites like esv.org, biblegateway.com, ccel.org, studylight.org, biblehub.com, and bibleatlas.org are all tabs I have open on my internet browser during study. These are all free and great resources. Personally, I have found centuries old commentaries like John Gill, Adam Clarke and Matthew Henry to be far more instructive and helpful than anything I have found in a Christian bookstore, and they are free and immediately available. I don't use Study Bibles, because they are limited to the space they can fit between two covers, and so the notes are really sparse and not very in depth. Commentators like the above mentioned are not only deeper and more thorough, but quite edifying as well.
3) For just plain reading, consider audio editions. All major Bible editions have audio editions. For most of Church history, Christians were by and large illiterate, and most of the saints throughout history have heard scripture read, and not read it themselves. To hear the narrative forces attention because even if your mind wanders, the narration on the CD or mp3 continues, and draws you back in. A lot of these audio Bibles are dramatized, and have background music as well. I'm a slow reader, but listening can cover a lot of ground much faster.
4) Finally, If my mind is really wandering, I find that if I have the discipline to sit still and make it through just one chapter, anything I read after that goes much smoother. I may drift away and have to refocus a bunch of times, but if I stick with it, it gets much better.
So those are some personal insights, hopefully if anyone has this problem, this can help.