One of my college roommates, Jen, was an animal lover – a trait I’ll admit that I do not share. So although she really wanted a sweet little dog to scurry around our apartment, what we compromised on was a hamster. She searched far and wide for the perfect pet and finally settled on a Russian Dwarf Hamster she named Bandicoot.

Since we were in college during the beginning of the Internet era when websites were new and exciting, one of our assignments was to design a basic website that gave information about ourselves. On Jen’s website, she wrote about her love of animals and mentioned her new pet, Bandicoot. She posted her site to the web and thought nothing more of it…until she started receiving strange emails from random people she didn’t know with demands that she “free Bandicoot” immediately.

She went back to her website and finally understood what went wrong. What she meant to write was something along the lines of, “I love animals, but my roommate doesn’t. So the only pet she’ll let me have is a Russian Dwarf Hamster that I keep in a cage in my bedroom.” The problem was that she accidentally omitted one key word: hamster. Suddenly the demands that she free Bandicoot made perfect sense.

She issued a correction on her website and even our professors had quite a good laugh at the innocent mistake, but as English majors, we learned an important lesson that day. Sometimes it’s enough to get the main idea of a message and let the details disappear in the background. But other times…Every. Single. Word. Is. Important.

Strangely enough, I often think about Bandicoot when I read the Bible. There are times when I read quickly and lazily, flying over the words like a crop duster. I skim the surface just enough to get the main idea, but don’t settle on anything long enough to feel the weight of each individual word. Not surprisingly, I don’t get much out of those times of reading. But other times, when I slow down and prayerfully consider every word and detail as I’m reading, God’s Word seems to jump off the page and settle into my heart.

What about you? How carefully are you reading your Bible? When you consider that the Bible is a love letter written straight from God’s heart to yours, doesn’t that make you want to slow down and savor every word? It’s the difference between reading the Scriptures and meditating on them. To meditate on something simply means to ponder it, to reflect upon it, or to mull it over in your mind. “My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises” (Psalm 119:148 NIV). And when it comes to the Bible, it’s not enough to simply read the main idea and let the details disappear in the background. Instead, we should read carefully and intentionally, meditating on God’s message in such a way that not a single word falls away. Because when He speaks – Every. Single. Word. Is. Important.

[Excerpt from At The Foot of the Cross: A 90-Day Devotional for Becoming Living Proof of a Loving God to a Watching World]

Q: How have you benefited from a slower, more intentional time of reading the Bible?