Principles for the Practice of Lectio Divina
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The book of Deuteronomy gave such instruction not only to Israel’s leader, but to the whole nation, who were to “recite them [i.e., the biblical words] to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise” (Deut. 6:7). The command to “eat this scroll” indicates that God’s word must be consumed and digested to yield its full effect and benefit. Click To TweetThe Israelites were to be gossiping the good news of God wherever they went and during their daily chores. The “meditation” on God’s written word in Psalm 1 and other texts thus denotes “the half-audible murmur of a person who is praying.”[1] Such meditative recitation was multidimensional. It involved not only seeing written words on a page, but also the speaking of those words, and the hearing of the words thus spoken. It involved a thinking mind, a feeling heart, a speaking mouth, and a listening ear. No wonder that the written scroll of God’s word is presented in Scripture to the prophet as something to chew and swallow (Ezek. 3:1–4; Rev. 10:8–11). The command to “eat this scroll” indicates that God’s word must be consumed and digested to yield its full effect and benefit.