Tag Archives: Lectio Divina

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Psalm 63: Thirsty For God


Hummingbirds fighting over a feeder in our backyard

(Edited journal excerpt from April 1991)

1O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Lord, You really are my God. I am coming to seek you as earnestly as I know how. My soul is thirsty for You alone. Even my body aches to know You more deeply. This parched place through which I journey only intensifies my longings. I am not finding refreshment or satisfaction anywhere else. You are my only hope right now. Has this been Your plan? Is this desert the place where You bring focus and clarity to my desire, realizing that it is You alone that I want?

2I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. From this desert place, I can easily remember times when I’ve sensed Your presence, felt Your power and was humbled by Your overwhelming glory. I remember the intimacy of Your presence in those private, holy places. I have known moments when I that there was no one and nothing in the world but You and me. This increases my longing for You.

3Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. Can I say this with the same conviction as David? Do I really believe that Your love is better than life itself? Or do I love my life more than I want Your love? What might I be devoting myself to over You? When I realize that nothing in my life, not even my life itself, is better than Your unfailing love, I see You filling the whole horizon of my vision. I am enabled to glorify you, acknowledge Your great honor, praise and glory.

4I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I am learning that You are always and will always be more than worthy of my puny praise, no matter what may come. Thank You for the challenges I face that deepen this conviction. I must often provoke You in my ignorance and presumption. When I think of Your name, I will lift my hands to praise You, Father.

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Psalm 28:7-9: A Meditation


(FYI: I’ve had enough friends and readers ask about something that I decided to make something clear. I am not awake every morning at 5:00am Pacific time uploading these daily posts. I almost always schedule them at least one day in advance, sometimes longer when I know I’ll be away or internet-unavailable. My usual rising time, without an alarm, is about 6:00am. I schedule these posts at 5:00am because some readers are on the East coast where it’s already 8:00am.) 

Psalm 28:7-9 NIV
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him.
The Lord is the strength of his people,
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
Save your people and bless your inheritance;
be their shepherd and carry them forever.

I’ve felt weak and exposed a lot lately. I need to hear that the Lord is my strength and my shield. He energizes and empowers me. He guards and protects me. When I feel down, He is the One Who lifts me up. I can rely on Him. He really does help me. I am not helpless.

This kind of practical care bouys up my heart. I find joy rise within me until my heart almost skips a beat. I literally feel that happening in me right now. I take a deep breath in the place of experienced security. My soul rises up to express praise for God’s greatness and goodness.

Enable me today to have awareness of and confidence in Your strength and protection today. May I be enabled to overcome the feelings of self-doubt, low confidence, anxiety and fear that continue to rise up in me to discourage and even disable me. Thank You. Amen.

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1 John 2:12-13: A Meditation


And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

The pleasures, power and pride of this world is passing away…fading. What pleases God lasts. Does my life and activities feel more fading or lasting these days?

Feeling. Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world (15-16).

Loving what the world craves diminishes me, because what the world craves is passing away…fading. I do not want to fade, but to grow brighter in what pleases the Father. Merely human pleasures, possessions, and pride take from me rather than giving to me.

I feel grateful reading such freeing words. I feel happy that I can choose a path that is different than the typical one in the world around me. I feel lighthearted at the prospect of entering more deeply into the Father’s pleasure by the power of His Spirit. I feel angry with a world that would offer me chocolate-covered emptiness.

Invitation. 1 John 2:15 NLT “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.”

Father, I hear You saying something like “Son, I invite you today to discern the desires of your heart along the way. Notice whether they lead to more good or more evil. Pay attention to whether they draw your heart closer to or further from Me. Never assume that every offer that comes to mind or heart today is from Me. Remember that what I want most for you is that my love would be full in you to overflowing. The world will only rob you of real love. My love lasts. Discern your affections, your attractions, your leanings today. Direct them all back into Me.”

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1 John 2:10 – A Meditation


As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, we practice a modified version of lectio divina in community each morning at the Journey. Here are my reflections in 1 John 2:1-11 from one morning last retreat.

1 John 2:10 NIV, “Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble.”

Love and light live together.

Feeling. It’s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God’s light and doesn’t block the light from others. (1 John 2:10 MSG)

Living in love is how I stay in the reality (light) of God and remain in fellowship with Him and with my brothers and sisters. Love is the oldest commandment in the book. Nothing has surpassed it. I feel humbled at how easily I forget that love is always first. I sometimes see knowledge, or my own desire, or my own work as first. I’m saddened at how easily I forget. But I’m also grateful that John has written these words because he wants me to share in his joy. God wants me to get this. He’s on my side for my good.

Invitation. 1 John 2:10 GNT “If we love others, we live in the light, and so there is nothing in us that will cause someone else to sin.” I want to live in the light of Your presence today, Father. So, I will love the others around me like You have loved me. I will love Gem, members of Gens 1-17, as well as Gens 18 & 19 as they arrive today. Enable me to be patient, kind, not jealous or proud, gentle, attentive and even affectionate as You give me opportunity. Love me, and others through me.

When I encounter someone along the way today, I can trust You to guide me in how to love them particularly.

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1 John 1:1-10: A Meditation


Every morning, at the Journey retreat, we practice a modified version of lectio divina in community. In the first reading, we listen for and then share a word or phrase from the passage that, for whatever reason, catches our attention. In the second reading, we pay attention to our own emotions and inward responses to the reading. In the third, we listen for a divine invitation to us for the day.

One Monday morning, the scripture passage was 1 John 1:1-10. Here were my reflections:

“But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. (v. 7)”

In the light, we have fellowship with one another because we see each other. The sin that separates us is washed away and we are free to come together in communion. Will I hide and pretend, or will I live in the light of confession and honesty?

Feelings. I feel saddened at my tendency still to pretend and hide my shortcomings and faults. I don’t easily admit that I have walked at times in dark places. I also feel grateful for the cleansing I have experienced when I have ‘come clean’ and admitted my sins. I have experienced fellowship with Gem, Paul and Chuck, for example, when I’ve done this.

Invitation. “If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts (v. 10).” God does not want me to pretend in His presence. Today, may I be fully honest about what is in my heart and mind. I can be fully honest about what I have done and what I have left undone. In the light, I will experience fellowship with Him. Whatever I feel separating me from Him is cleansed and forgiven in the light with Him. Thank You, Father.

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Psalms as Pure Praise


Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk from the last century, would have prayed through the psalms countless times in his personal and corporate prayer. Listen to what he says about them:

“In the Psalms, we drink divine praise at its pure and stainless source, in all its primitive sincerity and perfection. We return to the youthful strength and directness with which the ancient psalmists voiced their adoration of the God of Israel. Their adoration was intensified by the ineffable accents of new discovery: for the Psalms are the songs of men who knew who God was.” (Thomas Merton. Praying the Psalms. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1956, p. 3.)

The Psalms are the songs of those who knew God. They are expressions of living worship and praise. They aren’t just ideas or proclamations about God. They are vital words of lived relationship with God. When we read them, pray them or sing them, we are joining our faith with the living faith of countless others who have done the same.

“One of the best ways to learn to appreciate the Psalms is to acquire a habit of reciting them slowly and well. And for this it is decidedly helpful to be able to limit one’s recitation to just a few Psalms or to one only.” (Merton, p. 14.)

I find that reading psalms in the manner of lectio divina slows me down and enables me to notice what God may be drawing to my attention. Again, it is an unhurried approach to the psalms that helps me so much. I am growing more deeply convinced that inward hurry is among the greatest enemies in my spiritual growth and progress. As it relates to my formation in Christ, Vincent de Paul’s counsel is especially true: “The one who hurries delays the things of God.”

(Repost from May 2010)

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Looking Back: Psalms as Pure Praise


I’m grateful for this new Lord’s day morning into which I’ve awakened. It is cool and clear, and the sun has begun to glow over the Saddleback mountains here. That sense of morning praise is one we find in the psalms. Thomas Merton knew about that, and I quoted him in a post from May 2010: “In the Psalms, we drink divine praise at its pure and stainless source, in all its primitive sincerity and perfection.”

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Psalms as Pure Praise


Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk from the last century, would have prayed through the psalms countless times in his personal and corporate prayer. Listen to what he says about them:

“In the Psalms, we drink divine praise at its pure and stainless source, in all its primitive sincerity and perfection. We return to the youthful strength and directness with which the ancient psalmists voiced their adoration of the God of Israel. Their adoration was intensified by the ineffable accents of new discovery: for the Psalms are the songs of men who knew who God was.” (Thomas Merton. Praying the Psalms. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1956, p. 3.)

The Psalms are the songs of those who knew God. They are expressions of living worship and praise. They aren’t just ideas or proclamations about God. They are vital words of lived relationship with God. When we read them, pray them or sing them, we are joining our faith with the living faith of countless others who have done the same.

“One of the best ways to learn to appreciate the Psalms is to acquire a habit of reciting them slowly and well. And for this it is decidedly helpful to be able to limit one’s recitation to just a few Psalms or to one only.” (Merton, p. 14.)

I find that reading psalms in the manner of lectio divina slows me down and enables me to notice what God may be drawing to my attention. Again, it is an unhurried approach to the psalms that helps me so much. I am growing more deeply convinced that inward hurry is among the greatest enemies in my spiritual growth and progress. As it relates to my formation in Christ, Vincent de Paul’s counsel is especially true: “The one who hurries delays the things of God.”

Buy a copy of Praying the Psalms (By Thomas Merton) on Amazon.com

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Looking Back: Love as the Only Starting Point


In August 2008, I posted a wonderful quotation from Thelma Hall’s Too Deep For Words, a wonderful book on the theme of lectio divina. She suggested that “the great saints and mystics have been those who fully accepted God’s love for them. It is this which makes everything else possible.”

Read more of this post at “Love as the Only Starting Point”

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Thoughts on Reading More


As I develop the discipline of writing, I’m learning a lot about the discipline of reading. Simply put, writers read. Good writers read a lot. I was wondering how many hours a day good writers read, and found a great blog post by a Jesuit professor of government at Georgetown University (Fr. James Schall, S.J.) who quotes Samuel Johnson as recommending five hours a day of reading. Nowadays, I can only imagine something like this working for someone whose primary work is scholarship, writing or speaking. Nonetheless, I found some the blog Yikes! I enjoyed this paragraph from the post:

At London’s Mitre Tavern on July 14, 1763, James Boswell records what Samuel Johnson (the 300th anniversary of whose birth is this year [2009]) said about reading. “Idleness is a disease which must be combated; but I would not advise a rigid adherence to a particular plan of study. I myself have never persisted in any plan for two days together. A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good. A young man should read five hours a day, and so may acquire a great deal of knowledge.”

I’m especially impressed by Johnson advises against any kind of reading plan. I’ve been trying to work a quarterly reading list for about seven years now. It has been a way to read things I might not have read, but I’m not sure that it has ended up getting me reading any more. I still probably average more like 60 to 90 minutes of reading per day. For me, this isn’t enough. As someone whose primary ministry is speaking, preaching, counseling, training and, more recently, writing towards publication, I lose too many hours to aimless wandering and administrative piddling. If I gave even an hour or two of this time to reading, it would be time much better invested.

Instead of a reading plan, Johnson recommends instead that one read “just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as task will do him little good.” What do I want to read is a good question to ask myself. There is a difference between that question and “What do I feel like reading.” Sometimes I feel like reading junk. But if I pay attention to my own heart and mind, a place where the Spirit of God is at work renewing me, I discern deeper desires for good reading that I could pursue.

Johnson encourages me to read according to interest, curiosity and desire. He isn’t saying to read whatever I feel like reading. I don’t think he’s recommending that I read low quality novels. He’s just getting at the emptiness of “I really should read this or that. It would probably be good for me.” I will not be able to sustain this kind of reading five hours a day, let alone one or two.

If you were to ask yourself, “What reading do you deeply desire to do these days?”, what might be your answer. Is there somewhere in scripture you haven’t read (or read in a while) that you find yourself drawn to read? That might be a good place to start. Or, did you buy a book that grabbed your eye at some point, but then sat on your shelves unread? Perhaps revisit it.