UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

READ PSALM 136-140

SUGGESTED PATTERN READ PSALM 139 AGAIN with spouse or household.

SPEND A FEW MINUTES GOING THROUGH EACH OF THE 4 STEPS OF LECTIO DIVINA,ONE BY ONE BELOW .. ON  PSALM 139:1,2

1. HEARING JESUS THE LIVING WORD  Try different ways of slow reading..   try reading aloud looking at different versions.. Early monks learned the text or portions of it by heart.. others carefully copied it down

PSALM 139:1,2 “ You have searched me, Lord,  and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down you are familiar with all my ways

HEARING JESUS

“ You have searched me, Lord,  and you know me . Here in Psalm 139 we read that God knows us by His Spirit personally. God wants to reveal himself. It is possible to encounter the living God.

Are you willing to be known by God? Do you want to get to know God so that you might make him known. Do you want to be transformed? If you are going to be changed into the image of the living God..if you are going to be changed into the likeness of God..if you are going to line up with what is written in that divine book, the books that are written in heavenly places about you and your life..if you are going to line up with those books you need to be prepared to encounter the living God…to get know the Infinite uncreated  creator God. who has known you from the very beginning. Are you willing to approach the unapproachable light? To come to him today.. the author of life itself..

Are you prepared to be transparent? Radical transparency leads to radical transformation …it begins .. as we come to his unapproachable light.. as we come willing to be transparent and to be vulnerable to be encountered by him. We need to know that if there is sin in our hearts.. iniquity in our generations… we cannot hide it from Him.

2.RECEIVING JESUS THE LIVING THE WORD, read slowly enough so that you can pick up when and where a sentence or phrase speaks to you …then simply stop… and repeat it to yourself carefully and often enough to let its meaning sink in.

PSALM 139:1,2 “You have searched me, Lord,  and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down you are familiar with all my ways”

RECEIVING JESUS

“You know me” Here Psalm 139 begins with God knowing us… “You have searched me and you know me..” The (failed) Enlightenment project (as philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre describes it), began with Descartes  “I think therefore I am” , rather than “God knows me therefore I am.”

“You know me” Lesslie Newbiggin, the hugely influential Anglican missionary statesman of the 20th century said (1) “the idea of a purely objective knowledge is an illusion… but it is a prime and dominant illusion of Western culture.”

I yield my thoughts to you.. I yield my desire for knowledge.. come and know me.. know who I am .. and know my ways today  

3.PRAYING WITH  JESUS THE LIVING WORD Open up a conversation with God with the phrase or sentence you are reading  and let his word begin to build a relationship between you  and Him

PSALM 139:1,2 “ You have searched me, Lord,  and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down you are familiar with all my ways”

PRAYING WITH JESUS

You discern my going out and my lying down you are familiar with all my ways

(2) Knowing God is a journey that involves walking in the ways of the Lord.

Lord, I want to walk as your disciple Lord Jesus Christ in my going out and my  lying down,in my walk today

 As Jesus said “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) Knowing the truth follows on from walking as a disciple of Jesus, and obeying Him

Show me where I have failed to obey aright Failure to obey is failure to know aright.

I share with you my anxieties my fears with you today.. I repent of my sin .. cleanse me.. forgive me.. may   I know you more deeply today and  may your truth set me free..

4.WONDERING AT JESUS THE LIVING  WORD Once we begin to hear the word of God and incline our hearts to it we are ultimately attending to Him rather than to it…. Be ready to enjoy…  rather than to understand.

“ You have searched me, Lord,  and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down you are familiar with all my ways”

WONDERING AT JESUS

You perceive my thoughts from afar.

Early church catechesis, was the learning how to follow Jesus as a disciple, becoming conformed into his image involving cruciformity and theosis. Bonhoeffer said “When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.”

I yield  my thoughts to you.. as you perceive them from afar “Bonhoeffer, the great proponent of costly obedient discipleship recognise(d) that at the end of the day, discipleship is not about imitation or even obedience to an external call or norm..it’s about transformation or theosis.”

Lord, I wonder at what obedience to you looks like today and how it becomes cruciformity how it becomes theosis…I wonder as I lift my eyes to you Lord Jesus Christ. I yield to you I incline my heart to you Lord Jesus, THE LIVING WORD.

Show me what it looks like to do your will today. I attend to you Lord Jesus Christ, THE LIVING WORD.

I wait on you…

Share together with your spouse or household what the Lord has been saying, and pray for one another.

References

(1) Newbiggin, L. Faith in a Changing world,  72.

(2) Walker, A.G and Parry, R.A, Deep church rising : rediscovering the roots of Christian orthodoxy, 63.

(3) Bonhoeffer, D. The Cost of Discipleship,

(4) Gorman, M. Inhabiting the Cruciform God,  170