All Judah rejoiced concerning the oath, for they had sworn with their whole heart and had sought Him earnestly, and He let them find Him. So the LORD gave them rest on every side. II Chronicles 15:15
When I receive an important letter, I don’t read it just once. I read it over and over again to make sure I am reading between the lines. The more precious the letter, the higher the number of readings.
I remember receiving love letters from Ron when we were dating. He attended a boarding school in Florida and I was in New York. He wrote once a week and it was always on light blue stationery. Once I found the letter in the mailbox, it never made it to the house before opening it. I read it again while eating my after-school snack. I took it upstairs to my bedroom and read it several more times before dinner. I wanted to make sure I found every nuance to tuck it away in my heart.
If human words have many layers, it’s no surprise that God’s Word does too. Human words are finite but Scripture is a ‘manna’ that only gets deeper at every reading. It’s multi-layered and with each intake, there’s a new golden nugget. If the book of John were all I had available to me as a believer, it would have enough spiritual food for a lifetime. In fact, one chapter would be enough. If I can’t plumb the depths of God, why would I believe that I can plumb the depths of His Words?
Meditation skill #3: Take time to read your passage over and over again.
Many of our church fathers practiced a spiritual discipline called lectio divina. They were made up of Reformers, Puritans, Revivalists, and others. They read scripture repeatedly to discern, through the work of the Spirit of God, the full meaning of a passage. Martin Luther urged meditation and used the Lord’s prayer as a model to teach it to those he taught.
How about this quote from Charles Spurgeon ~ "The more you read the Bible; and the more you meditate on it, the more you will be astonished with it."
Astonish each one who will open your Word today, and who then settles in on it to read Your words like a love letter. Amen
Originally published Thursday, 10 January 2019.
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