Lectio Divina

Interesting. . .

The stated goal is to “experience a word from God in God’s Word.”

I believe that this prayer practice is quite helpful to me in the context of allowing scripture to present itself as prompted by the Holy Spirit. I am preparing for a sermon this coming Thursday and have a selected text, though I have not yet selected a focus for application.

In practicing Lectio Divina, I found that the process of meditation and prayer actually helped in allowing the Spirit of God to guide me to His intended application. I chose as my passage Genesis 41:37-57. I was disturbed somewhat by the free-association style by which we are encouraged in contemplation.

I am currently bemoaning the fact that I am nearing 30 and still single. It is difficult for me to believe that I have any options left, in that there is a distinct lack of abundance of suitable ezer kenegdo’s in the surrounding Everett area. There are options, sure, if I were willing to go against God and conscience. However, taking on the unlimited strength and resources of an infinite being is not a task I look forward to undertaking.

And so I wait.

And as I do, the thoughts swirl like molasses within my already sticky mind. And this is what I am thinking about as I am in the middle of the Lectio Divina prayer practice, which causes me to question my commitment to--or sanity therein--the integrity of this present pursuit of understanding God’s words to me.

And then it hits me. Integrity. That’s it. Joseph was a man of integrity who humbled himself in all ways, who experienced God’s presence even in the midst of prison, and whom God prospered wherever He planted him.

Verses 51-52 speak both to Joseph’s greatest success and to God’s plan for holistic well-being. After being promoted to second-in-command in all of Egypt, Joseph is able to experience a deep joy at the birth of his two sons which allows him to move beyond the pain of his past into the blessings that God has bestowed upon him. God allows Joseph to "forget all [his] hardship" and to be "fruitful in the land of [his] affliction." It seems as though a deep sense of joy and vindication are now accessible to Joseph for the first time in a long time.

I am reminded that in the midst of Joseph’s suffering, God’s presence was with him.

I am reminded of Luke 4:18-19 where Jesus announces that He has come into this world to “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

I am reminded that God is one who gives us “beauty for ashes.”

I am reminded that Jesus himself suffered many things, though is now glorified and “seated at the right hand of the Father.”

I am reminded that James 1:2-4 admonishes us to allow difficult times to develop within us Godly character so that we will “lack nothing” and pursue integrity in the midst of difficulty.

I believe that the key component of Joseph’s success was his willingness to make integrity one of his core values and to never depart from it. God’s plan was bigger than Joseph ever could have imagined when he was seventeen; and it took God 13 years to turn Joseph into the man God needed him to be in order to allow the next phase of God’s plan of reconciliation on planet earth to take effect. 13 years! But as a result of Joseph’s obedience and integrity, God blessed him when he was 30 years old and began to give him the desires of his heart.

So in context, the Lectio Divina prayer practice turned out to be an excellent tool for an applicational--if somewhat isogetical--approach to allowing me to “experience a word from God in God’s Word.” This is certainly a prayer practice that I will consider making a habitual pattern in my devotional life.