Day 5 of Tour Devos - Lectio Divina - Psalm 139
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This is a series of Devotions I wrote for our church’s high school choir tour. I hope they bless you!
Before you start reading this devotion, pray to God, thanking Him for this day and that He has given you life. Tell him about what you are experiencing. Thank Him for the gifts that He has given you. Then pray that God will help you be more aware of His presence in your life so you can be a better apprentice of Christ.
Today, we are going to practice the Spiritual Habit of meditating on God’s Word to help us listen to God. It’s called Lectio Divina. It’s a style of reading and meditating on God’s Word that makes us listen to what the Spirit wants to tell us. This practice should take you 15 minutes.
Psalm 139
The cry of the prophets to ancient Israel was the joy-filled command to "Listen!" "Sh'ma Israel: Hear, O Israel!" In Lectio Divina, we, too, heed that command and turn to the Scriptures, knowing that we must "hear" - listen - to the voice of God, which often speaks very softly. In order to hear someone speaking softly, we must learn to be silent. We must learn to love silence. If we are constantly speaking or if we are surrounded by noise, we cannot hear gentle sounds. The practice of Lectio Divina, therefore, requires that we first quiet down in order to hear God's Word to us. This is the first step of Lectio Divina, appropriately called Lectio - reading.
1. Lectio - reading/listening
Turn to the text and read it slowly, gently. Savor each portion of the reading, constantly listening for the "still, small voice" of a word or phrase that somehow says, "I am for you today." Do not expect lightning or fanfare. In Lectio Divina God is teaching us to listen to Him, to seek Him in silence. He does not reach out and grab us; rather, He softly, gently invites us ever more deeply into His presence.
2. Meditatio - meditation
Once we have found a word or a passage in the Scriptures, which speaks to us in a personal way, we must take it in and "ruminate" on it. The image of the ruminant animal, like a cow quietly chewing its food again and again, was used in antiquity as a symbol of the Christian pondering the Word of God. This image is meant as a reminder that we must take in the word - that is, memorize it - and while gently repeating it to ourselves, allow it to interact with our thoughts, our hopes, our memories, our desires. This is the second step or stage in Lectio Divina - meditation. Through meditation we allow God's Word to become His word for us, a word that touches us and affects us at our deepest levels.
3. Oratio - prayer
Then speak it to God. Whether you use words or ideas or images or all three is not important. Interact with God as you would with one who you know loves and accepts you, and give to Him what you have discovered in yourself during your experience of Meditatio. Experience yourself as the priest that you are. Experience God using the word or phrase that He has given you as a means of blessing, of transforming the ideas and memories, which your pondering on His word has awakened. Give to God what you have found within your heart.
4. Contemplatio - contemplation
Finally, simply rest in God's embrace. And when He invites you to return to your pondering of His word or to your inner dialogue with Him, do so. Learn to use words when words are helpful, and to let go of words when they no longer are necessary. Rejoice in the knowledge that God is with you in both words and silence, in spiritual activity and inner receptivity.
