"Lectio Divina"

Are you bored with reading your Bible? Do you find yourself reading it more out of duty than devotion? Is your study time a little rusty lately? It’s okay to say “yes” you’re not alone. In fact, I have been there myself and so has every other honest Christian. You know the routine don’t you? We loathingly rise up early in the morning after winning what Rick Warren calls, “the battle of the blankets” and off we go with our Bible in one hand and a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee in the other. Into a quiet room we go hoping to get spiritually fine-tuned and we get tuned alright, we get “tune-out!” The head starts nodding as we fight sleepiness, the yawning kicks in and before we know it we are either asleep on our Bibles or off to hit the day because we’ve been distracted once again.

Have you been there? Of course you have. Don’t worry, there’s a solution. It’s called, “lectio divina.” Inspired? Probably not, more than likely you’re scratching your head wondering to yourself, “What in the world is lectio divina?” It has to do with our approach to reading the Bible. It's a Latin phrase that simply means, “Divine Reading.” It’s what one person described as “the kind of reading in which the mind descends into the heart.” It’s reading the word in search of the WORD. It’s not only you going through the Bible, but it’s the Bible going through you. The Bible is an organism. It’s alive. It’s the only book that you read that reads you. While we search the Scriptures, the Scriptures search us. It’s not only reading the Bible for information, but transformation. It’s you getting inside the Bible so the Bible can get inside you.

Am I making sense?

While I was in seminary in Dallas Prof. Hendricks described “Lectio Divina” in a way that clicked. Though he didn’t use those words, he was on to something that he called “The 40/20 Principle.” He spoke about how we should read for forty minutes and reflect for twenty. If you read the Bible fifteen minutes per day than the 40/20 principle would mean you read for ten minutes and reflect for five. I like that! Read and reflect. The difference is you are prayerfully reading and reflecting in search of God verses passively reading in search of God knows what. You see I believe the missing link between merely study and sanctification is meditation. When we reflect and meditate over God’s Word we take it from our head to our heart. It’s how we move from information to integration, from frustration to jubilation. It’s the key to throwing JOY back into our devotional life.

In fact, I believe it is because of “lectio divina” that God called David, “A man after My own heart.” David was more than a warrior, he was also a worshipper. He was more than a man’s man, he was God’s man. He had both a brave heart and a broken heart. He was a man with an appetite: an appetite for God’s Word. In his famous Psalm 119 he wrote in verse 97, “Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long.” What made David a man after God’s own heart? The missing link of meditation! He read for renewal, not ritual. He worshipped from a heart of purity, not piety. He wasn’t merely reading, he was “Divine Reading.” He was looking for God in the Scriptures, not a check box on his daily planner.

Want a white hot heart for God again? Want to sense the overwhelming power of His presence in your study? Want to feel His glow in your heart like you once did? Want to enjoy reading the Bible verses enduring it? Than “lectio divina” is your answer. Don’t just read; Divine Read. Here is a simple closing application: start your reading off next time with David’s prayer, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Psalm 119:18) and you’ll find more than print on a page, but a Savior in your midst.

Till next time, bC

A Journey Towards Dependency

If someone was to ask you, “What is our greatest need in life” what would you say? Before you answer this question stop for a moment and ponder it. Okay, what did you come up with?

• A slimmer waistline?
• A new lipstick red 325 BMW?
• A six-digit income?
• Or for you techies, a new Mac-Air book?

Perhaps it’s no surprise that our culture will offer us the bait of power, prestige and possessions as our greatest human need. However, those pursuits lead to a dead end. They are empty, void and lifeless. Before I answer this question let me say that when we are unsure of our greatest need or fail to live in light of it we become restless spirits trying to find pleasure in the words of Blaise Pascal, by “licking at the earth.”

Since the genesis of time mankind has been on a vigorous quest to answer this question. The ancient sage king Solomon was a restless wanderer in search of meaning through the disparities of life. At the end of his search to discover his greatest need he perplexingly penned the words, “So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after the wind.” You can still feel the sting of those ink written words as he desperately shares the depression that branded his heart and soul.

So are you ready for the answer to this question? It’s costly. Okay, here it is: our greatest need is to worship God through living a God-dependant life. That’s not easy in a culture that prides itself on being independent. Frank Sinatra’s famous song, “I did it my way” could be the new American motto. Forget the old and true motto E pluribus unum, “one out of the many” in speaking of the dream of the United States.

Since the beginning of time people have sought to do things their own way and the results have been devastating. The difference between living independent and dependant is chillingly clear from Scripture. From Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden, to the construction of the Tower of Babel, to Jonah running from the call of God on his life we discover one clear truth: we aren’t meant to live apart from God.

The result of the independent life is paved with consequences and creates in us a restless heart! Nothing creates more unrest than trying to live detached from our Creator. I have personally known this restlessness in my own life, but lest I bore you with musings from my own restless heart let me share with you a life changing quote from Augustine, the great theologian of the past who gave birth to words that have echoed throughout the generations and still ring true in our hearts today. He said in his Confessions, “Thou has formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” We don’t find rest in God until we first learn to depend on God. Are you tired of being anxious, worried, fearful and restless? If so, I highly recommend God’s antidote to a restless heart: It’s called “dependency!” Just as the eye is useless in and of itself, it needs natural light to complete its ability to see. So too, we as humans need God to be fulfilled and complete. Jesus said, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Jesus taught us in those simple choice words that the independent life is a fruitless life. This was His clarion call to a life of dependency, more than that to a fruit bearing life. So lean into God today. Rest in Him. That is our greatest need. It is our act of worship. And remember learning dependency is a journey, not a destination. Join me in the journey.

Till next time, bC