Historical Confirmation: More Information about the Importance of a Priority Time
Recently I read a great book, ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. I’d recommend this book for many reasons, but I want to quote extensively from chapter six because it affirmed and improved my understanding of a priority time. This historical look at “Lectio Divina” perfectly describes the balance between the head and heart. I think we do an injustice to the Scripture by categorizing some approaches to Scripture as scholarly and some as devotional. I think all approaches to Scripture should include quality scholarship and devotional application. Please read the excepts below and let this historical description and explanation of “Lectico Divina” increase your commitment to your priority time.
“One of the ways in which people have tried to overcome the distance between written text and dynamic Word as addressed to us is the use of the ancient practice of lectio divina, Latin for “divine reading.” The Bible is the Word of God, which is always alive and active, always new. Lectio divina is a traditional way of combining prayer and reading the Scriptures so that the Word of God may penetrate our hearts and that we may grow in an intimate relationship with the Lord. It is a natural way of prayer and was developed and practiced by the early monks and then developed by the first Carmelite hermits. It involves a way of reading the Scriptures whereby we gradually let go of our own agenda and open ourselves to what God wants to say to us. It is a way of praying with Scripture that calls one to study, ponder, listen, and, finally, pray from God’s Word. Any passage of Scripture can be encountered using lectio divina, as long as the passage is not too long. Lectio divina is not the same thing as exegesis but is a personal reading of the Scripture and application to one’s life. After quieting our hearts and laying our cares aside, worshippers engage the text.” (p. 148)
“Lectio divina involves the following four “moments” or readings.
1. Lectio: the worshipper is invited to read the passage out loud, perhaps several times. It is best to read the Word of God slowly and reflectively so that it sinks into us.
2. Meditatio: After the second reading, we think about the text we have chosen and ruminate upon it so that we take from it what God wants to give us. The reader is called to gravitate to any particular phrase or word that seems to be of particular importance.
3. Oratio: This involves a response to the passage. The worshipper opens his or her heart to God. This is not an intellectual exercise but an intuitive conversation or dialogue with God. Here we let our hearts speak to God. This response is directly inspired by our reflection on the Word of God.
4. Contemplatio: This involves listening to God. We free ourselves from our own thoughts, both mundane and holy. We open our mind, heart, and soul to the influence of God. We rest in the Word of God and wait quietly and listen at the deepest level of our being to God speaking within us in a still small voice.” (p. 148–149)
“The Jewish approach to Scripture is that we don’t read the Bible but rather that it reads us. Our standard of practice is to assume we are its interpreter and therefore the arbiter of its meaning. Jewish approaches reverse this: we are not the interpreter, but rather it is the Torah that interprets us. This is because it is God who addresses us in Scripture; hence the idea of revelation that is so important to a biblical worldview. It is not so much that we raise questions about Him, but that He raises questions of us (p. 149).”
I absolutely love the line, “we don’t read the Bible but rather that it read us.” I hope and pray that every time you read the Bible, you make time for the Bible to read you. The purpose of the Bible isn’t to increase your spiritual IQ; it is to conform you to the image of Christ. You will never regret the time you spend reading, meditating, and applying the Word of God to your life. Everyday won’t be a mountaintop experience but without the Bible I can guarantee you that you will spend more days in the valley than on the mountaintop.
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