The following post is part of the Dwelling Richly series.
Today’s interview is with Rosaria Butterfield. Rosaria serves as a mother, pastor’s wife, speaker, and author.

I trust this interview will encourage you in your pursuit of God through his Word.

 

What is your regular routine for Bible Study?

My routine begins at 5:00 or 5:30 a.m. and lasts for an hour.  Dark-of-the-morning is my most unfiltered time. My mind and heart are raw and open in this liminal place where I am less likely to dupe or defend myself by remaking sin into my long-time friend (even if it has been my long-time companion).  My morning Bible study has the same shape each morning, with different contours and emphases. Here is the general shape: confession of sin, Bible reading, singing a Psalm from the Psalter, reading and memorizing a catechism question from The Westminster Confession of Faith, and prayer.  This is a precious time for me, and I try not to squander it.

Here are some of the contours of my Bible Study:

• I read through the Bible at least once each year.  I use Tabletalk (from Ligonier Ministries) to keep me honest.
• I do special studies on the Psalms regularly because they help me confront the original sin that distorts me, the actual sin that distracts and ensnares me, and the indwelling sin that manipulates me.  The Psalms rightly orient my image-bearing of a Holy God. I read 5 Psalms each morning, starting with the day of the month, and then adding 30 to it. I also break up Psalm 119 and read a section of it each morning.  Psalm 119 is crucial to me because it displays God’s mind on how God’s word is to be read. Finally, as a lifelong student of literature and poetry, the Psalms engage my heart in metaphor and image.
• The books regularly on my desk during my morning Bible study are these:
  the Bible (ESV, NASB, and KJV Study Bible);
  Prayers of the Bible, by Gordon J. Keddie (Crown and Covenant Publications, 2017);
  Voices from the Past: Puritan Devotional Readings, Vols. I and II, edited by Richard Rushing (Banner of Truth Trust, 2016);
  The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes, edited by GI Williamson, (P&R Publishing, 2004);
  Harmony of the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, by Morton H. Smith (Tolle Lege Press, 1990);
  The Book of Psalms for Worship (Crown and Covenant, 2009).

 

How do you personally cultivate a desire to be in the Word?

I cultivate a desire to be in the Word by reading the Puritans and by avoiding all silly squabbles in evangelical circles.  The Banner of Truth Trust has a series called Puritan Paperbacks, and I almost always have one with me, reading it throughout the day.  These books are small enough to fit in your purse and they are rich and good and true. Some of my favorites are these:
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs,
The Heart of Christ by Thomas Goodwin,
The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson, Samuel Rutherford’s letters,
andPrecious Remedies against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks.  

The Puritans were deeply in the Word.  And for many of them, this cost them their lives.  

 

 

How did you make time for Bible Study when your children were little?

Mothering was an amazing calling that the Lord bestowed upon me late in life.  We adopted our first baby when I was 40. We also adopted teenagers at the age of 17—twice.  In all, we have four children, and for a decade of my life, we had a child placed with us from foster care.  I learned during those years to be flexible and focused. I spent many hours listening to the Bible and praying while holding and feeding babies.

I learned to really appreciate the power of hearing the Old Testament read aloud, and learned to be a better listener than reader during those wonderful years.  

 

 

How do you encourage a love for God’s Word in your children?

We homeschool our children, and our day is bookmarked by the attentive study of God’s word.  I lead the children in family devotions in the morning and Kent leads the family and all of our guests (we practice daily hospitality, so there are almost always guests) in Bible study and devotions after our evening meal.  In the morning with the children, we read and then sing one Psalm, and then use Lydia Brownback’s excellent book, Sing a New Song, to better understand the Psalm that we just read and sang.  I am also using Gordon Keddie’s book (Prayers of the Bible), both personally and with the children.  My children also listen to the Bible on the iPad, working through the whole Bible in the year.  We have some vexing learning disabilities in our family, and my children have learned that we need to come together and pray throughout the school day as a matter of necessity.  

We also have a number of other children who gather with us when their school is not in session or in the evening. We just pile them in with our regular study. Over the years of having a home that is not a “Just Us” fortress, my children have witnessed other people coming to Christ.  We have witnessed how the Word of God subdues and directs and gives grace and comfort. And over the years, we have learned to anticipate that the Word will go out with power and grace.

 

 

What is one Scripture passage the Lord has especially impressed upon your heart and why?

Mark 10:28-30—Peter began to say to [Jesus], “See, we have left everything and followed you.”  Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life”  (emphasis mine).

This is the verse that I long to live out, and that motivated me each morning as I wrote the book The Gospel Comes with a House Key.  It tells me that the gospel costs you your life, but gives you a family of God.

I long to see our churches and homes making good on that hundredfold promise, giving to one another our time and our care, and enfolding others into the family of God through a gospel witness that seeks strangers and welcomes them as neighbors, and, if God wills, watches them lay down their lives at the Cross and become part of the family of God.

 

 

 

Rosaria Butterfield (PhD, Ohio State University) is an author, speaker, pastor’s wife, homeschool mom, and former professor of English and women’s studies at Syracuse University. She is the author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert and Openness Unhindered. More information can be found on her website.