I tell you I am complicated, because before I get to the point there are some things you might need to know. First, I love to do Lectio Devina. I like to do it alone, and I like to do it with groups...It is quiet time, where I fall head first into the Word and let it surround me like a warm bath. I just fall in and let the words just run through my brain and then I listen to what God is trying to day today....
The second thing is that in addition to who I am today and what I do today, I have a past full of experiences of a Social Worker....I love that work, and sometimes I miss it. But I love what I do now. And sometimes the two things are intertwined...but I digress....when I wanted to get a kid to talk, we went for a walk. And they talk they did....
So here is where those two random thoughts collide....Today's Bible reading from one of the email devotions I receive is from Genesis 22. I cut and pasted it below if you are interested. It is the story of when God tests Abraham by asking Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac....Does the story line sound familiar? (It should! The same plot line happens again a few thousands of years later.)
If you do Lectio Divina you know that you read the text. And then dwell in the word for a little bit. Then read it again and pick out the words or phrases that speak to you......Today I was struck by the words, "the two of them walked together." Abraham and his young son, Isaac were walking together. We can only imagine what Abraham was thinking and feeling or what they talked about. But what we do know was that God was testing Abraham and had asked Abraham to sacrifice his son. After all they had been through....God promised a great nation would come from Abraham's family and here was the start the nation, of the Israelites ...
How could this be? In the end the angels stopped Abraham and there was a nation.
Abraham had a unique relationship with God....Abraham was faithful in the face of the unthinkable. And in the end God provided. Personally I find hope in this amazing story of faith. I can't help that when the two were walking, God was there too. Everyday we walk with God, even when we may not know it.....
Genesis 22:1-14 (NRSV)
After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you." So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you." Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.
When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided."
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