Make God Your Daily Routine – But Make Your Routine Meaningful

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.’ (Daniel 6:10)

I am a creature of habit. When I wake up I’m usually the first one out of bed, so I quietly get dressed and start opening up the shades and turning off the driveway lights, before taking my vitamins and medications and eating a banana to start the day. Our cats also follow their habits; Leta is usually on top of the sofa waiting for me to come out of the bedroom, and Lacey will follow me around to ensure I open the blinds and inspect what is going on outside.

I go into my office, and though I no longer work I still mark off the calendars, open my laptop and start it up, and say a prayer thanking the Lord that I again rose with the sun and that it is a great day. I check my e-mail, read a blog or two that I follow, look at the news sites for the top stories, and then begin to type out either the Life Group e-mails I send or go straight into the Word-of-the-Day blog, which entails studying the Bible to ensure I have the right verse for the message I want to convey.

In the evening, at bedtime, we pray thanking the Lord for his provisions of the day, and pray for those who have needs and always our children and grandchildren, and then for the blessings given to us personally and any needs we have in petition to the Lord before we go to sleep.

There are days (today being one of them) when the routine gets interrupted. The interruptions are not necessarily anything big; it can be a phone call, an appointment, or something or someone else needs my immediate attention or action.

After handling the interruption, however, no matter how long it takes, I go back to ensure the completion of the routine, if at all possible. Routines often need to be completed for both peace of mind and to ensure the day’s needs are met (like posting the Word-of-the-Day blog). These interruptions may not be planned, and the delays in the routine may cause tardiness, but it is important for us to complete, if at all possible, our routines.

Is it OK to have certain routines that we follow?  Daniel, in his routine, prayed 3 times each day, facing Israel, in his upstairs study in his 2-story Brownstone townhome in Babylon.  (He was King Darius’ advisor, so it was probably a bit upscale.) We all have little routines that we do (I get up, and go immediately to the kitchen to take my vitamins and eat a banana), and sub-routines (the order in which I brush my teeth, the steps in which I get dressed, etc.) as well, to help bring order through our day. 

We also have routines we follow on a higher level, like dental appointments 2 or 3 times a year, or our routine checkups with our doctor each year.  The routines are done almost without thinking and instinctively get us going throughout the day, and when it’s time for bed, we have routines for that as well to help us fall asleep comfortably. (Mine is typically watching a Johnny Carson re-run. Of course, all of Carson’s shows are now re-runs.)

Looking at Daniel’s example in Daniel 6:10, we see his daily routine, and his devotion to worshipping God. Even though there was an interruption thrown into the mix, Daniel – though this may have caused a slight hitch in perhaps starting his routine, did not falter in following through with it.

His interruption was a bit bigger than those I typically face; King Darius, through the insistence of his advisors, signed a decree that his subjects (including the exiled Israelites in Babylon) could only worship him. It was a trap set to get rid of Daniel; the advisors, jealous of Daniel’s influence over Darius (by Daniel’s consistent and Godly guidance given to Darius), knew Daniel’s habit of praying thrice daily.

Daniel understood the interruption, the decree, would likely put a crimp in his routine. Any delay, however, did not stop him from returning to his devout praying to God. His adherence to his routine did cause Daniel to be tossed into the lions’ den, but that same adherence allowed Daniel to be saved by God the next morning (and the vanquishing of those advisors and their families, who were fed to the lions for their duplicity).

When we make something routine, even with our Christian routines, we must keep it from becoming something done without thought.  Is it OK to tie our shoes, or brush our teeth without thought, routinely?  Yes.  Is it OK to pray to Jesus or read your Bible without thought, routinely? No. Fortunately for Daniel, his routine was thoughtful and meaningful, or he would have been a tasty snack for the lions.

We need to make Jesus part of our routine, in prayer and reading time.  We have to be careful that in making Jesus part of our routine that we take away from Him our thinking.  As a little kid, the bedtime prayer was part of the routine, “Now I lay me down to sleep…I pray to My Lord my soul to keep, Amen.” 

By the time I stopped reciting it around age 10 or 11, it was more like the guy at the end of the car commercials on radio whose voice is sped up to fit all the disclaimers into the 30-second slot; “NOWILAYMEDOWNTOSLEEP…IPRAYTOMYLORDMYSOULTOKEEPAMEN.” It became meaningless as it now was simply something done without thinking.

Make the things we do for our worship of the Lord part of your daily routine, but make sure you pray and read Scripture with a purpose and a focus to make sure that they mean something. Our Christian routines should be done in reverence and worship and not become like the disclaimers at the end of a car commercial.  

I’m certain Daniel’s prayers, each and every time while done routinely, were done with purpose and not a droning repetition of a meaningless phrase.  Be careful not to make the name of Jesus a catchphrase, but to honor His name each time you say it.