A very important question

What is more important: reading the Bible or praying? 

This question was once posed to the well-known revival preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He responded with a counterquestion: "What is more important: breathing in or breathing out?" 

I think it is quite clear what Spurgeon meant by this. Reading the Bible and praying usually go hand in hand in the life of faith. God speaks to us primarily through His Word—we breathe in—and we speak to Him in prayer—we breathe out. This is true fellowship and essential for a strong relationship with God. 

Imagine, for example, that you have been married for ten years, but in your marriage, only your spouse speaks. You always remain silent, never express yourself, and never engage with them. That would be very strange and would not reflect well on your marriage. 

But what about our relationship with God? Could it be that we are spiritually short of breath or suffering from acute oxygen deficiency—to refer back to Spurgeon's statement? 

J.I. Packer once said: "I believe that prayer is the measure of a person spiritually, more than anything else. That is why the question of how we pray is one of the most important questions we can ever ask ourselves." 

M.K.