Devotion for today: Whoever would find Him must go to the foot of the Cross…

I have written a long blog today, but I want you to take several days to read it. I have before you the passage in the Bible known as the Beatitudes. This is the passage I would ask you to meditate on this week. I have written my own thoughts on Lectio Divina, also known as prayerful reading of the Word of God. Lastly, I have recorded a beautiful section from a letter Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his brother-in-law about prayerful reading of Scripture. If you think this blog is too long for one day, you are right! Taken over a few day, however, I think will help you come to a deeper understanding of the beauty of God’s Word, as it was written by Him to His beloved – YOU!

The Beatitudes

Matthew 5:3-12

He said:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

A very good way to get closer to God and find Him in your daily life is to choose a passage from the Bible and lose yourself in it. First, get comfortable. Then pray to the Holy Spirit to enlighten you to as to what God is saying to YOU in this passage. Then clear your head of all the chatter which usually goes on up there. Take a deep breath, and begin to read, slowly and thoughtfully, pondering each line and letting the meaning sink in. Picture yourself at the spot where Jesus is speaking, and let His gaze fall upon you. He is speaking to you and He wants you to hear His message for you. After you have read the passage, just sit and let the words play in your heart and mind. Say a prayer to Jesus to thank Him for this love letter, and keep it uppermost in your being all day long. It is yours to bring back up and ponder, to love and to answer. This method of study is called Lectio Divina, and it is akin to reading a love letter with time and emphasis on each word, as though each word will reveal a little more about the beloved to the reader. What better passage to meditate on in this way than the passage we call the Beatitudes. I put it above so you can read it throughout the next several days and let it soak in.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran minister who was faithful to God and not to Hitler at the time of great turmoil in his beloved Church and Germany, and who is described on the cover of the book, Bonhoeffer as “pastor, martyr, prophet, spy” once wrote to his brother-in-law about reading the Bible. He said:

…. One cannot simply read the Bible like other books. One must be prepared really to enquire of it. Only thus will it reveal itself. Only if we expect from it the ultimate answer, shall we receive it. That is because in the Bible God speaks to us. And one cannot simply think about God in one’s own strength, one has to enquire of him. Only if we seek him, will he answer us. Of course it is also possible to read the Bible like any other book, that is to say from the point of view of textual criticism, etc.: there is nothing to be said against that. Only that that is not the method which will reveal to us the heart of the Bible, but only the surface, just as we do not grasp the words of someone we love by taking them to bits, but by simply receiving them, so that for days they go on lingering in our minds, simply because they are the words of a person we love; and just as  these words reveal more and more of the person who said them as we go on, like Mary, “pondering them in our heart,” so it will be with the words of the Bible. Only if we will venture to enter into the words of the Bible, as though in them this God were speaking to us who loves us and does not will to leave us alone with our questions, only so shall we learn from the Bible…

If it is I who determine where God is to be found, then I shall always find a God who corresponds to me in some way, who is obliging, who is connected with my own nature. But if God determines where he is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature and which is not at all congenial to me. This place is the Cross of Christ. And whoever would find him must go to the foot of the Cross, as the Sermon on the Mount commands. This is not according to our nature at all, it is entirely contrary to it. But this is the message of the Bible, not only in the New but also in the Old Testament…

And I would like to tell you now quite personally: since I have learnt to read the Bible in this way – and this has not been for so very long – it becomes every day more wonderful to me. I read it in the morning and the evening, often during the day was well, and every day I consider a text which I have chosen for the whole week, and try to sink deeply into it, so as really to hear what it is saying. I know that without this I could not live properly any longer.

(Bonhoeffer, written by Eric Metaxas, Thomas Nelson Press, 2010)