Reading Deeply

Some things cannot be done at high speed. Driving large distances at thruway speeds is effective, but even basic maintenance is impossible at 65 miles per hour, or more. What is true for driving our vehicles is also true for our spiritual life. We cannot experience the real depth of the soul while pushing top speed in our activities, and one of the places this is experienced is in our interaction with the word of God. Often, we are so busy reading for distance, that we gain little depth in the process.

That is not to say there are not benefits that come from digesting large portions of Scripture. Earlier this year I took on a Bible reading challenge to complete the whole Bible in 90 days. It took me a little more than that, but in the process, I discovered a number of things that only seemed to surface when I could capture the sweeping action of the story. Reading for distance can lead to some wonderful discoveries. It can also prevent us from mining the richness of the story.

In Psalm 119, the writer says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (verse 11) Slowing down our experience with the word of God leads to the unveiling of hidden treasures that go deep in our spirits and from there, transform our lives from the inside out.

Throughout the past two millennia, Christian monastics and mystics embraced a practice known as lectio divinia. This process of “divine reading” encourages the reader to come prayerfully to the word and to read slowly. As the words are thoughtfully received, the reader remains attentive to what thoughts and ideas resonate within and captivate the attention of the spirit. When these treasures are uncovered, the process of meditating on them begins, allowing the opportunity to savor the deep things of God and life.

What are the thoughts and feelings of the people in the story? How would the early listeners receive the this teaching? What fills my spirit with holy expectation, and what troubles me as I engage what I am reading? These are the type of questions that draw us into the holy moment before us, inviting us to do more than read, but to interact with the message. We may be deeply challenged, or equally encouraged, but we will be moving our reflection from information to inspiration.

Encountering the word of God in this way has less to do with digesting ideas, than with savoring truth. In a culture that has become quite adept at eating food for sustenance while barely tasting what we consume, the patience to appreciate the subtle flavors of the Scripture may take some time to develop. Each step in that direction, however, will deepen our discovery and enhance our spiritual maturity.

If we truly desire to enrich our spiritual lives there will need to be time for careful, deep reflection on the things of the Spirit. In those moments of stillness and contemplation, we will be remade in our spirit and that will lead to the transformation of our lives. Then, when we return to the necessary speed of serving in the world, our eyes will be open to the wonder of God, our spirits attentive to the voice of God, and our lives empowered for the service of God.

Reading for depth is not merely about intellectual stimulation, but about deep spiritual insight that transforms us so we can transform the world.

 

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3 thoughts on “Reading Deeply

  1. Great post. The psalm you quoted about God’s word being hidden in our heart provides solace, yet it also provides a challenge, that is, to make his word (Logos) unhidden, or to use a more meaningful term, revealed, in our heart. This would seem to be why the Eastern tradition would abandon imaginative meditation for the Jesus Prayer, or the “prayer of the heart.”

    1. Thanks! I think your assessment of the Psalm and the Jesus Prayer is quite accurate, for there is a kind of breathing that takes place in our interaction with the word. We receive it into ourselves only to let it come forth out of us. The desert fathers embraced some imaginative meditation, but they never made that the end of the reflection. Rather, the unveiled heart heart in relationship with God and humanity is the anger goal.

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