Day 130: What Are Some Supporting Exercises for Hearing and Seeing?
Colossians 1:9
[We] have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…
This week, we will explore some secondary or supporting practices and attitudes to help you explore ways to deepen your walk with the Lord. All of these can be cultivated as habits and patterns of thought and action in every facet of our lives. There are many things that we can do to help us focus on the Lord and His work in and through us. These practices have been proven throughout time to be helpful to the faithful.
Supporting exercises are things we may do alongside the core exercises in order to help us focus our efforts. Some of these are actually attitudes—internal postures of our mind, a certain way of thinking about things. We will explore three supporting exercises/attitudes that come alongside each of the three core exercises. We have grouped these supporting exercises with the Core Exercises that they seem to support, but again we remind you that there is no set formula for this. It takes time and experimentation to see what works best for you.
What is Meditation and Memorization?
Psalms 119:27
Help me to understand what your precepts mean!
Then I can meditate on your marvelous teachings.
For some, the word meditation is a bad word. It is often associated with eastern mysticism and new age practices that are hollow and deceptive. Nevertheless, it is also a biblical concept and we are encouraged to meditate on The Word, making it part of our “internal reality.” Meditation is simply focusing deeply on the Lord God’s Word to us.
You could think of meditation in 3 stages: 1) Simply reading and joyfully accepting Scripture as The Word of God, 2) Studying the text to understand what it means, and 3) Pondering or “chewing” on what you have learned, asking, “How does this Truth shape me?”
As in Psalm 119 above, true meditation follows understanding the text. The Psalmists asks for understanding so that he may then meditate on what he has learned. Studying the text is vitally important and beyond the scope of this introduction to dig into. For now, realize that we want to meditate on truth received as God’s Word, not on our own thoughts. Study helps us to make sure that we are understanding what Father God has given us.
In meditation, we consciously and intentionally slow down. We don’t read merely to be reading. We are not reading through 4 or 5 chapters of the Bible. We pick a single short passage and live with it, ponder it for a time. We engage it with all of our senses. We are seeking to get the Word into us, not merely get into the Word.
In Psalm 1:2, we hear that the “Blessed person,” “delights in the Instruction of the Lord, and on His Instruction he meditates day and night.” The word that is translated “meditates” is the Hebrew term “to murmur, or mutter.” It is the “mmmmmm” sound we make when eating something delicious. It is the “hmmmmm” sound we make when we are thinking hard. When we meditate, we are enjoying the tastiness of the Lord’s Word. Like Mary, we treasure the Word, pondering it in our hearts (see Luke 2:19, 51). That is the essence of meditation.
All of this implies that we may wish to memorize parts of Scripture so that we can take it with us to ponder. For many, memorizing Scripture leads them to a new level of growth and fruitfulness.
Often, meditation brings us a blinding flash of the obviously profound. By obviously profound I mean that we start to see the Word connecting with the truths that are before us everyday but have been blocked from our awareness by our busyness or distraction. As we think about, “chew on,” ruminate on God’s truth we begin to see wisdom take shape in our thoughts and attitudes.
What Is Silence?
Psalm 131:2
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore.
“I have calmed and quieted my soul…” This may be one of the most difficult things for us to do. Yet of these supporting exercises, this one may be the foundation upon which the others build. In our face-paced, deafening culture we may need to arrange for times of silence as well as developing an attitude, or interior posture of silence. Notice in the Psalm above, the Psalmist has “quieted” his soul like a “weaned child with its mother…” The image here is of a baby sleeping peacefully on its mother’s lap with a full belly. Because Father God provides for us and watches over us, we too can find calm and peace.
Two things we can do in this area: turn off and unplug. We have TV’s, radios, iPods, etc., which can inundate us with a constant stream of noise and static. With this constant distraction, it is very difficult to “plug in” to Father God. When we find ways to be silent, we posture ourselves to hear the Lord better.
In verse 1 of Psalm 131, the Psalmist says he has not set his mind on things too far above him. We will say something about that first verse tomorrow. Instead, he has calmed and quieted his soul. When we receive the Father’s provision and cultivate a sense of always being in His presence as He keeps company with us and watches over us, we find hope, healing and restoration. We find satisfaction for our souls.
See if you can find a place to sit for 15 to 30 minutes in silence. No music, noise, chatter, etc. Take this time to reflect on what you are learning and what the Lord is teaching you.
What Is Solitude / Abstinence?
Matthew 14:23
And after he (Jesus) sent the crowds away, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came,
he was there alone.
Practicing solitude can enhance both our Hearing and Praying exercises. For some of us, we need solitude—alone time—in order to have silence. Jesus went out alone to pray on several occasions. Being around others can often hinder us from focusing on our personal relationship with Father God. We all need time to ourselves, for ourselves. This is not a negative selfish act; it is something we do so that we can be our best self for the sake of others.
Solitude can take many forms. We may go for a walk or set aside some time during the day to be alone. We may decide that we need a longer time, maybe several days to get alone with the Father. All of this will have to be planned for and worked out in the context of our family and job responsibilities.
For those of us who are married, we may also set aside special times to focus on prayer undistracted by our natural and good desires. In 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 says that those who are married can abstain from sexual activity for a time agreed upon in order to focus on prayer. .
This exercise of abstinence may not be limited to sexual things, it may also include other forms of pleasure that we decide to abstain from in order to devote our minds to God completely. We can abstain from TV. We can abstain from music. We can abstain from a number of things that are not bad in themselves if used properly. The Spirit will guide us as we explore practicing these types of things.
In short, the practice of solitude creates space in the flow of our life for our main responsibility: cultivating our life with Father God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
Is solitude something that would help you in your spiritual life?
If so, think about simple ways to implement this.
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
