46. Why Busy Physicians Can’t Focus During Bible Reading—and How to Fix It

Do you ever sit down to read your Bible, only to find your mind racing, your to-do list popping up, or your eyes getting heavy within minutes?

You’re not failing spiritually. You are not a bad Christian. You’re just a busy physician trying to meet God in the middle of mental fatigue and constant demand.

In this episode of Heal the Healers, I break down why focus during Bible reading is so hard for physicians, and share simple, practical strategies to help you stay anchored in Scripture, even on your busiest days.

You’ll learn:

• The three most common distractions physicians face during quiet time and how to respond to each one
• A simple way to capture racing thoughts without losing momentum in Scripture
• What to do when your mind wanders (and why rereading is not failure)
• How posture, fatigue, and environment affect spiritual focus more than you think
• Bonus tips for engaging with hard or “boring” passages and finding the hidden gold God placed there

This isn’t about longer quiet times or putting more pressure on yourself. It’s about meeting God with intention, even in short moments, and trusting that His Word still speaks clearly when we slow down enough to listen.

I’ll also share a brief invitation to the upcoming Heal the Healers Physician Retreat (Jan 16–17, Madison, WI)—our final call for those longing to hear God’s voice more clearly in this next season.

You can get all the details here 👉 https://www.ingahofmann.com/retreat

If you’ve ever felt frustrated, distracted, or discouraged during Bible reading, this episode will encourage you and give you tools you can use today.

🎧 Listen in and be refreshed.

Are you a Christian physician longing for a deeper walk with God and a supportive community that truly gets it?

The Heal the Healers Mentorship is a Spirit-led program equipping Christian physicians to walk in wholeness, power, and purpose. You’ll grow in intimacy with God, walk boldly in your identity, and learn to integrate faith and medicine—without burnout or compromise.

👉 Enroll here to join the mentorship program.

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Transcript

0:00

Hey there. Do you ever sit down to read your Bible, only find your mind totally racing on a hundred million things you have to do random thoughts or just suddenly feeling tired? You are totally not alone. So today I wanna share some real practical tips to help you stay anchored in the scripture. Reading in the word, even when you're distracted and busy, it's time to really get your focus on. So stay tuned for. Some super practical tips. You might wanna have a pen and paper if you are driving. Just jo them down in your mind. Stay tuned for after the music and we will be right back. Hey, friend. I felt like totally doing a bonus episode for you today. I know we talked a lot about hearing the voice of God and about the retreat, which by the way, you are coming, right? Remember, January 16th and 17th in the Madison, Wisconsin area. We still have tickets available. Registration does close January 9th and early bird closes. December 24th Christmas Eve. So please register and we would love to have your day out. I would be so delighted to meet you in person, pray with you, minister to you, support and serve you. For the whole weekend, meaning, Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. The retreat information is in the show notes. Go to inga homan.com/retreat. You will find all the information there. But without further ado, I really wanna just get straight into this short little teaching for you and, just give you some helpful tips. So I wondered because this happened to me, chances are it happened to you before. If you ever have sat down maybe in the morning during your cry time, you try to read their scriptures, you finally sit down to read your Bible. And suddenly we remember these 10 random things you need to do like right now. Like it's usually random things like, oh, I need to get this at the grocery store. Oh, I need to order that at Amazon. Or, oh, I forgot about the kids stuff, and there was school paperwork over here, and you just feel the urgent. Z to suddenly drop the Bible reading and make sure you do those things so you don't forget. Yeah, totally been there, done that, got the t-shirt. And today I really wanna share some very helpful tips for you to make sure that doesn't happen and doesn't pull you off. The Bible reading now I don't have control over your mind, chances are thoughts, distractions to-do list items will pop into your mind. But what I will be doing today is give you three very practical, quick tips that you can. Take immediate action on to overcome this constant distraction when you are reading the word. And because it's me, I also like to give a couple bonus tips, so stay tuned. But before we do anything, it's always good to anchor ourselves in the word. Now, Bible reading, studying the word of God is important, and when we get distracted that's usually not from God. A lot of times that's just our own. Busy world, our busy mind that we should take captive. And the word of God says in two Corinthians 10, five, that take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. So that suggests to us that when we have a thought, whether that's a distraction during our quiet time, or whether these are negative thought. That are impacting the way we feel about ourselves. We go about our day, how we believe things about God, et cetera, that we should take them captive and make them obedient to Christ. So this is gonna be an anchor scripture for us today to just remember that when we have a thought In this case, just a distraction. Reading the word of God, that we take those thoughts captive and don't suddenly let those thoughts run our life, and in this case, our quiet time. Because let's face it, if we give them room, they will grow like wheats. So we have to take them captive and we have to. What are structure and a place for them, because sometimes you have helpful thoughts like, oh, I need to pick up my kids from school earlier today or something. So there will be things that come into your mind during Bible reading that you actually really need to keep track of. And I'm gonna talk about tips, how to do that. The other thing I wanna remind you, Bible reading the scriptures are so important because. The Bible tells us your word is a lamb to my feet and a light to my path. So when we are reading this word, it's really enlightening. Our path is giving us direction. It's giving us the Lord's will for our lives. His character, it reveals so much so we don't wanna. Fall astray from it. That's Psalm 1 19 1 0 5. So let's get right into it. Here are three practical tips that help you to stay focused during Bible reading. And they are really anchored around the common destructions that I have experienced or. Chances are you have been there too. So the first one is you're starting to read your Bible and you have these random to-do list items pop in your mind. Does that ever happen to you? Have you ever had that happen? You're like reading, you're actually pretty happy and suddenly ding, you're like, oh, to do, I must. Whatever, pick up this from the grocery store. It's usually totally random things, not important, not urgent in that moment, but surely happens as we're reading the word. So what do you do with those when you have these distracted random items, usually todo list items pop in your head. Here's what I wanna encourage you to do to not get off track during your quiet time. Or your other scriptural reading study time is have either a journal or your planner or just a piece of paper or sticky notes right next to you. So when I start reading the word, I usually have my planner next to me. I might have more sticky notes or index cards, and I write down. If something pops into my head. So at the moment while I'm recording this, just around me, I'm sitting in my spare bedroom office where I'm currently recording. I have a little desk and if you would be able to see it there's actually a lot of sticky notes on the table, so I make use of that all the time. And then I usually later stick them into my planner where I take care of. The simple to do items right away that are just a quick knock off the list kind of thing. So keep sticky notes or some way to quickly record the random to do that pops in your head. Why is this important? Because that in the moment it allows you to put it somewhere to offload that mental clutter and then keep reading. Because what most of the time happens, and I've heard this from many people that have mentored that a lot of times what happens is we have a thought we wanna take action on it because we are afraid that we will forget. So a lot of times people interrupt their Bible reading to do this very quick thing. Such as order something from Amazon and then get back to it. And that just totally disrupts the flow. So don't do that. Just write it down to it later. And then again, it's, it will be a habit to take those thoughts captive. Now, number two, wondering thoughts or zoning out, has that ever happened to me? So you are reading through passage and this especially true for the less. Narrative language that is okay, I can read through some of the stories of Abraham and Isaac and Exodus, some of those earlier Genesis, Exodus, these stories that just capture our attention. But. When you get to Leviticus or numbers or some sections even the more course discourse kind of language in the Pauline letters or something that we easily get distracted and suddenly we are reading and at the same time our mind is totally on a different tangent thinking about something that's our mind, maybe something we're struggling with or is totally in la land. And we are reading at the same time. So you're making progress on the scripture reading. You're like a chapter later and you're like what did I just read? That's when you really have to pause as soon as you catch that, and this happens to me too on some days where I'm like, how did I get here and why did I not remember a word? I know because 20 verses earlier, drifted off in la land thinking about something totally random. So wandering thoughts will happen, and here's what you need to do once you recognize it. Pause, stop right there. Hold the thought captive. Actually, you might even say out loud, oh my goodness. I started thinking about I don't know, our last vacation or something. It is totally random. Usually the stuff that comes up in my mind at least submit that moment to Christ. And then I'm actually, I'm saying no. I'm gonna go back to where I drifted off, and by now I can usually very quickly point to where I drifted off. And let's be real here. There are times when I have to read a passage two, three times on a bad day when this happens to me, because let's face it, sometimes our brains are just foggy. Menopause here. Definitely getting foggy and I just have to discipline myself. But I do not let foggy brain, a bad night's sleep, a bad day, whatever it is, take control over my Bible reading. I hold the thought captive. I'm like, no. Mind, body, brain, you are gonna submit to my order and I'm take my direction from the Lord. So I'm just gonna read it again. And if this happens again, because maybe it's a challenging scripture, guess what? If this happens repeatedly, I actually go next level and I say. I'm gonna read it out loud, at least for a few verses, and then I usually get back on track because as we're reading out loud, we cannot really hold any other thoughts in our mind anymore at the same time. So wanderings thoughts, pass, stop, bring that moment to Christ. Rewind where you lost your train of thought or where the train of thought actually got you derailed. Go back to that passage, reread it again. If this happens repeatedly, read out loud. Number three. Is this, you start to feel really tired and sleepy. Ever felt that way? Maybe you didn't have a good night's sleep, maybe have little kids or you're coming off call or just a hard week or sometimes we are just tired and exhausted. So obviously have your coffee. I usually have coffee with my Bible reading. It's just my little routine. But if you are really getting sleepy, meaning physical tired, you're fighting with your eyes that are trying to close on you. A few practical things. Number one, check your posture. If you are like slouching over and bad. Yeah, that. Will a hundred percent happen to me for sure too. I need to read the words sitting upright. But check your posture. Sometimes it's simple. Okay, let me take a big breath. Maybe even open the window, get some fresh air and sit upright. Check my posture. That I'm not slumped over. Just that simple posture correction can bring me back or if I'm really struggling I read out loud or I start walking around again. This is where you have to crucify the flesh and hear me when I say this. I'm not saying don't take your bodily signals that you're actual, perhaps really tired. Chances are. That's probably true and that you need to do something about that. But don't let thoughts, wandering thoughts, tiredness, fatigue, even physical tiredness. Run your life when it comes to reading the word of God. You can pull it together. You and I can pull it together for 15 minutes and then take a nap. And because I know what happened to me in the past, if we don't. Tell the spiritual world in our bodies who the boss here is. The other things will set in and take over. And guess who doesn't want you to read your Bible? Or talk to God. So take that to mind. So here are the three tips. Have something to write to capture any random to-dos. Number two, make sure when you're having wandering thoughts to go back to where you left off and reread that scripture loud if needed. Number three, if you're fatigued and tired, check your posture. Read out loud, maybe walk around even if it's just for a minute. It will help you. All right. I said a couple bonus tips, so here we go. Sometimes these things often happen during harder passages, books that sometimes we try to avoid. I used to do that. I used to have somewhat selective Bible reading, right? I tried certain books and I fell off. Usually these ways. And so I've avoided them. So if you find yourself in a harder book, like maybe the prophets are really hard, maybe even sums because you don't, the language can be sometimes not easy to read. I don't typically like poetry traditionally, although now I really appreciate it more, but I used to not like it at all. So I actually used to not like the Psalms at all, and now I really like them, but so you might be in Leviticus in numbers, in some of the, basically it's non gospels, maybe even Pauline Letters are hard for some people. Wherever you find yourself in a hard passage, especially one that seems. Super boring, like genealogies, geographical description, those kind of things. Temple measurements and order of how the tabernacle was to be built is typically not people's favorite. So if you feel it's hard, dry, and boring, you have to ask yourself some questions and pause. Number one, pray before you start reading, and then go ahead and ask the Lord. Lord, help me understand this is here for a reason. Remember that this was not boring information to the author obviously God or the author that wrote that book, or the original audience. So you have to dig deeper behind what is behind it. And actually this is where all the treasures of the world lie. Oh my goodness. Ask the Lord, what's the goal here? Why is this here? Can you reveal something to me about this? Lord, you will find if you are really going on a treasure hunt and reading through the Bible over and over again, and stick in these passages, you will find things. That are treasures of God. And I venture to say that there are many that you never heard in church, that you never heard even from your pastor, because that's how awesome God is. He has more treasures than any of us can capture, and so I will encourage you. Dig deeper and not dismiss those passages just because your Western mind, our western mind cannot capture them. But ask the Lord what is behind this? I know Tara Lee Kale from Bible recap sometimes calls this sort of, where's my God shot and all these difficult passages. That's one way to look at it. But even in these very hard ones where you don't see God immediately, I really want you to start digging and asking the Lord. You will find. Amazing things and just even the last few weeks I've discovered things I've never seen before, that I've never heard anybody mention or teach on that I really wanna sit and actually wanna do some teaching on. But that's distraction. I'm getting often exciting tangent here. So I hope this helps you. I really want you to be equipped when you read the word to get. And you invest that time because I understand you're making a sacrificial time here where you say, I need to sacrifice some time to sit in the quiet with the Lord and with his word and understand it and. You want at least the time that you do spend to be totally maxed out and squeeze every ounce out of that time that you can and not get distracted. So that's why these tips, so don't get distracted. Make sure you take notes on things that pop in your head. Read out loud, move your body, ask question to the Lord. Invite the Holy Spirit and you will. Just get more hungry and hungry for the word. That's something I can definitely attest to. So don't let distractions steal your devotional time. That's my final message to you. I hope this was an encouragement. If you liked it. Hey. Do you mind sharing it with a friend? If you share this podcast? This is actually a number one way by just sharing, subscribing, reviewing, liking. This is a wonderful way that is free to you and cost you a second of your time to support this ministry because that will mean. That more people get to see it. And I mean by support, not monetary support, Get the word out there because I know. You know that other Christian physicians need this and they wanna be equipped and they're struggling. So let's do it together. Let's create a movement of kingdom physicians supporting each other. God bless you. Don't forget to register for the retreat January 16th, 17th. I will see you dear. To be trained, equipped anointed to hear the voice of God. God bless you. Have a wonderful day. Bye.