Grace Bible Chapel, September 29, 2024, Greg Rhodea PhD

I. Praying the Psalms

Interview with Joel Ahlstrom

II. Lectio Divina

1. Reading (lectio)
Select a passage of Scripture to read, according to your desire and interest. Psalms, New Testament Letters, and the gospels are highly recommended. Read it over a few times, slowly, out loud, and mentally. What does God have for you here?

2. Meditation (meditatio)
After you “read big,” it’s time to “meditate small.” Identify some short portion of the text that jumps out to you. Focus on this portion, thinking about it, repeating it out loud, and considering it over and over. You are making this truth yours today.

3. Prayer (oratio)
After meditation, time is spent praying in response to God’s word to us. Turn the passage from your meditation into a prayer. Talk to God—express how you feel, ask for his help, and recommit yourself to him.
4. Contemplation (contemplatio)
The final step is to remain in a time of silent prayer, aware and open to God. Fix your mind on God with an attitude of desire and attentive listening. This is prayer as being, not doing, without words. Seek to kindle love in your heart and direct it towards God.

See a separate pdf handout with more detail here:
Lectio Divina Handout
You may download this for later reference.

The Sweetness of God in Lectio Divina
(Guigo II, Ladder of Monks, parts 2‒3 [13th century])

“Reading is the careful study of the Scriptures, concentrating all one’s powers on it. Meditation is the busy application of the mind to seek with the help of one’s own reason for knowledge of hidden truth. Prayer is the heart’s devoted turning to God to drive away evil and obtain what is good. Contemplation is when the mind is in some [way] lifted up to God and held above itself, so that it tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness. Now that we have described the four degrees, we must see what their functions are in relation to us.

Reading seeks for the sweetness of a blessed life, meditation perceives it, prayer asks for it, contemplation tastes it. Reading, as it were, puts food whole into the mouth, meditation chews it and breaks it up, prayer extracts its flavor, contemplation is the sweetness itself which gladdens and refreshes. Reading works on the outside, meditation on the [inside]; prayer asks for what we long for, contemplation gives us delight in the sweetness which we have found.”

III. Psalm 73

A psalm of Asaph.

¹ Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.

² But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
³ For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
⁵ They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
⁷ From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
their evil imaginations have no limits.
⁸ They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
⁹ Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
¹⁰ Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
¹¹ They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”

¹² This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

¹³ Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴ All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.

¹⁵ If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.

¹⁸ Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
¹⁹ How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
²⁰ They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.

²¹ When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
²² I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.

²³ Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

²⁷ Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
²⁸ But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.