Last week, we wondered and asked with Job, “Where are you God?” It is a question people ask with many different emotions, from anguish to joy, from anger to complacency. And I wonder what would happen if God actually decided to answer … shhhh … God is that you?
Suddenly God speaks but God doesn’t speak on Job’s terms or on our terms either. God speaks but it is not to answer our selfish little questions. God speaks in order to remind all of humanity WHO God is. God is Creator … Eternal One … One who WAS, One who IS and One who always WILL BE ... THE ONLY ONE! God contains the past, the present, and the future in God-Self.
Ok, so I am a little droplet engulfed in the “raging storm” that IS God. There is a something quite exhilarating about that thought … riding the waves with God who is in total control. And God invites us into that wild ride.
When you are ready to ride the waves in total surrender to God, I invite you to spend a few moments in silence to open your heart to fully grasp the Word God has for you. Are you able to “wait” on God to “speak” out of the raging storm of your life?
Breathe deeply and settle into your soul with a simple breath prayer. Use this one or create your own (six to eight syllables)
Breathe in … Eternal One (pause) Breath out … give me a word! (pause)
and when you are ready to move deeper into the text ... Pray: Eternal One, often I wonder where you are. I seek you here and I seek you there. I rarely look around my life to find you already at work within in and out in the world. Forgive me, Eternal One and fill my heart with your presence as I seek you in the wild and crazy world I inhabit, both within and without. Amen.
Step 1: Lectio … Reading Read Job 38:1-7 and 34-41 silently to yourself once, slowly and reverently. Listen for a word or phrase that shimmers for you. Read the passage a 2nd time out loud with your whole body. Can you describe the way you feel as you read these holy words? Can you feel the raging storm? Or do you feel more of a calm afternoon rain in your inner world? ?? ??
Know that as you move through Lectio the illumination of words/thoughts might change and that is ok ... simply move where Spirit leads. Focus courageously on the word or phrase that arises for you in any given reading. Repeat your word and all of the emotion it embodies several times. Allow it to sink deeply within, all the way to the center of your being.
Job 38:1-7 and 34-41
Suddenly God speaks but God doesn’t speak on Job’s terms or on our terms either. God speaks but it is not to answer our selfish little questions. God speaks in order to remind all of humanity WHO God is. God is Creator … Eternal One … One who WAS, One who IS and One who always WILL BE ... THE ONLY ONE! God contains the past, the present, and the future in God-Self.
Ok, so I am a little droplet engulfed in the “raging storm” that IS God. There is a something quite exhilarating about that thought … riding the waves with God who is in total control. And God invites us into that wild ride.
When you are ready to ride the waves in total surrender to God, I invite you to spend a few moments in silence to open your heart to fully grasp the Word God has for you. Are you able to “wait” on God to “speak” out of the raging storm of your life?
Breathe deeply and settle into your soul with a simple breath prayer. Use this one or create your own (six to eight syllables)
Breathe in … Eternal One (pause) Breath out … give me a word! (pause)
and when you are ready to move deeper into the text ... Pray: Eternal One, often I wonder where you are. I seek you here and I seek you there. I rarely look around my life to find you already at work within in and out in the world. Forgive me, Eternal One and fill my heart with your presence as I seek you in the wild and crazy world I inhabit, both within and without. Amen.
Step 1: Lectio … Reading Read Job 38:1-7 and 34-41 silently to yourself once, slowly and reverently. Listen for a word or phrase that shimmers for you. Read the passage a 2nd time out loud with your whole body. Can you describe the way you feel as you read these holy words? Can you feel the raging storm? Or do you feel more of a calm afternoon rain in your inner world? ?? ??
Know that as you move through Lectio the illumination of words/thoughts might change and that is ok ... simply move where Spirit leads. Focus courageously on the word or phrase that arises for you in any given reading. Repeat your word and all of the emotion it embodies several times. Allow it to sink deeply within, all the way to the center of your being.
Job 38:1-7 and 34-41
(The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice ™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society)
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| Cindy Serio © November 2011 |
Out of the raging storm, the Eternal One answered Job. Eternal One: Who is this that darkens counsel, who covers over sound instruction with empty words void of knowledge? Now, prepare yourself and gather your courage like a warrior. Prepare yourself for the task at hand. I’ll be asking the questions, now— you will supply the answers. Where were you when I dug and laid the foundation of the earth? Explain it to me, if you are acquainted with understanding. Who decided on the measurements? Surely you know that! Who stretched out a line to measure the dimensions? Upon what base was the foundation set? Or who laid the cornerstone On the day when the stars of the morning broke out in song and God’s Can you bellow out orders at the clouds and pull down a flood of rain around you? Can you dispatch bolts of lightning on their way, who instantly obey and say to you, “Here we are”? Who put wisdom within the center of the created or granted understanding to the mind?* Who has the wisdom to count the clouds and send them on their way or tip over the water skins of heaven to refresh the ground below When the dry dust is as hard as metal and clods of clay clump together? Can you hunt prey for the lioness or sate the appetites of her cubs while they crouch in their dens and wait in the brush? Who nourishes the hungry raven when its young chirp to God and wander for want of food?
Step 2: Meditatio … Receiving
Read the passage a third time slowly …
in whatever way seems appropriate for where you are right now.
Continue to focus on your word or phrase
(even if a different emphasis has emerged)
Pay attention to the thoughts and feelings it evokes.
What images emerge in your imagination?
What memories come to your mind?
Ask God to continue to speak to you through this word.
Step 3: Oratio … Responding
Consider any desires that have been awakened by your prayer.
Perhaps you have found an area of your inner life or your outer life that needs attention.
Do not rush ... wait and listen as God forms your prayers and desires
Step 4: Contempatio … Resting
Allow yourself to rest in the silence.
Allow your mind to settle into the silence.
When you feel the time to move on ...
Pray … Eternal One, I want to welcome you in whichever way you come to me. Help me to honor you in all ways that I am able. When the raging storm wells up from within me, help me find you in the center of it all … Amen
Cindy's Meditation ... For some reason, this image of God as the raging storm within and without appeals to me right now. It seems like the world is raging in so many ways. I think we often create a container and call it evil so we can ignore the disintegration as something not relevant to us. But what if the raging is just the moaning and groaning of the world in discontent with the way we human beings treat the world. I am forever grateful for life and the world in all of its many ways of being and I pray that I may continue to grow as I come to view the world as a renewable resource that I must care for in order to preserve a future for all of God’s children.
God of the Raging Storm, I am grateful for YOU as you teach me your ways and call me ever deeper!
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