Lanterns in the Desert/Lenten Lectio: Do not put the Lord your God to the test!

Your word is a lantern to my feet
 and a light to my path.

 Psalm 119:105

Our Lenten journey takes place in our desert, that place in our life where we wander and wonder and struggle with who we are and what we are called to be and to do.  It is a place of "testing."   After his baptism, the Spirit led Jesus into the desert where he spent 40 days wandering, wondering, and struggling.  He used the Word of God as his Light and his "Lantern in the Desert."  As we walk with Jesus in the desert carrying our own lanterns to light the path, we deepen our trust in God as we let go of trying to control our lives and make things happen.  We surrender to God.  We are invited to learn how to let God provide for us in our wilderness, just as Jesus did.  

For the next couple of weeks we look at the 2nd temptation of Christ as we expand our Lectio and Labyrinth experience.  This week we engage in Lectio and next week we'll walk the Labyrinth.  

Before we engage in Lectio Divina, or sacred reading, let us focus on God's loving presence by creating and breathing with a Breath Prayer.  Try this one or create one of your own:

Breathing in ... Holy Spirit of Jesus

Breathing out ... Strengthen me in my wilderness

When you are ready to enter into prayer with the text via Lectio Divina, take one last deep breath and pray for illumination of the text:

Holy Spirit, light the candle in my lantern as I read and pray with the Holy Word.  Increase my trust and help me to let go as I listen to the movements of God in my reading and reflection.  Amen.

Step 1:  Read Matthew 4:5-7 (Contemporary English Version) with the "eyes of your heart."   What word or phrase calls for your attention in your reading?  What word or phrase is this week's "lantern in the desert" for you? 

Next, the devil took Jesus to the holy city and had him stand on the highest part of the temple. The devil said, “If you are God’s Son, jump off. The Scriptures say:

‘God will give his angels orders about you.
They will catch you in their arms,
and you won’t hurt your feet on the stones.’”

Jesus answered, 

“The Scriptures also say, ‘Don’t try to test the Lord your God!’”

Step 2:  Read the passage again and Reflect ...
How does your lantern in the desert illuminate your life and the temptations you encounter in your desire to control your own identity and the vision you have of your life?  How are you being invited to more deeply trust in God's will and provision?

Step 3:  Read the passage again and Respond ...
What do you say to God about the insights you have discerned in your reading and reflection?   How do you pray when you consider how you are being invited to leave your life and your future in God's hands?

Step 4:  Rest ...
Come to a place of silence within yourself and just "be" with God.  Try for 10 minutes or beyond. When you are ready to move on,  pray:  

Holy Spirit, lead me deeper into a wandering wilderness this Lenten season but boldly light a Lantern in the Desert so that I may find my way with you.  Help me to know who I am as a creation of God and how I can surrender my plans in order to embrace the plans God has for me.   Amen.

If art is a pathway to God for you, you may want to gaze upon this image ...and engage in visio divina ...

The Life of Jesus Christ by James Tissot:Temptation of Jesus Christ, Brooklyn Museum, in public domain

Read the Image ... Allow your eyes to seek softly what you are attracted to in the image.  Simply receive the gift of seeing.  What image within the image is drawing you in ... Allow yourself a few moments simply to sit with this gift.

Receive the Image ... Take a deep breath and gaze with soft eyes and a receptive spirit.  After receiving, close your eyes and reflect by allowing your imagination to form that image in your consciousness ... what are you receiving from God through the image?  How does this illuminate your life right now?

Respond to God ... Now take a deep breath and gaze with soft eyes and a grateful spirit.  How do you sense yourself desiring to respond to God through the image you have received?  What would you say to God about what you are hearing, seeing, feeling?  Allow yourself to pray with gratitude ... 

Rest in God ... Now take a deep breath and rest ... notice how your body feels.  Is there something more here?  Then go back and repeat your "gazing" prayer.   If you feel that you have received all you need in this moment, simply rest in the silence and come to a place of shalom, peace, wholeness ... 

To end your time of Visio Divina ... Join Jesus in lifting up his Lantern in the Desert:

“The Scriptures also say, ‘Don’t try to test the Lord your God!’”

Jonah ... Get up and Go!

Dear friend ... Breathe deeply.   Take a few moments to center yourself on God who calls us to come, calls us to get up and calls us to go.    As you breathe and settle into a place of deep quiet within yourself, listen for God ... if other voices distract you from your time of quiet, stop and acknowledge those errant voices, plan to attend to them after you finish your time with God and turn your attention back to your breathing!  If you aren't sure where the voices are coming from ... the silent one is God :)

As you breathe deeply, say a "breath prayer"

     Inhale:   God of Jonah ...

     Pause ...

     Exhale:  I will go  ...

     Pause ...

Repeat this breath prayer or create your own until you feel it is time to move from prayer into the sacred reading of the biblical text, and then ... Pray:

    

     Let me hear your voice in the text as I read

Read this Jonah passage slowly, immersing yourself in this story of the prophet who finally surrenders to the call of God to carry a prophetic message.   Remember (or read Jonah 1-2 if you don't know the story) that Jonah has previously run from God the first time God spoke, let's just say he didn't care for his assignment, and wound up languishing inside a great fish for 3 days.  He had time for some serious self-evaluation and prayer before finally being spit out upon the beach to live another day ...  

Jonah 3:1-5, 10 (NLT)    Then the LORD spoke to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”   This time Jonah obeyed the LORD’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all.   On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!”  The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.   When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

Read the passage again slowly and Reflect on the journey of Jonah from hearing to doing.   Or perhaps you find yourself thinking about those Ninevites as they come to believe Jonah's words.  Listen for a word or a phrase that draws your attention.   Repeat that word or phrase.  Ponder this Word or phrase through which God is speaking to YOU as you let the story unfold in your mind and heart.   Where does your word or phrase intersect your life where you are right now … as you feel yourself listening, not listening, obeying, not obeying, doing, not doing, speaking, not speaking, praying, not praying, fasting, not fasting ... How are you responding, not responding … make an honest assessment, where are you?

Read the passage again slowly and Respond.   Share with God how you feel about what you are hearing through your word or phrase.  Share with God how you feel about your sense of response.  Speak your word or phrase out loud and ask God to help you surrender to the word you have heard and the wisdom it holds as you explore its meaning for you where you are right now.   Take a moment or more to journal what you are hearing and how you will respond, don't think about the words, just write and let your deepest thoughts rise into your consciousness.

Read the passage again and Rest.  Allow the presence of God to surround you and deepen your faith so you are able to surrender to God's call.  Rest until the peace of God settles into your soul ...

When you sense the time to move on, Pray: God of Jonah, you know where to challenge me and you know what my response will be before I even make it.  Let me always go where you lead me and speak the word you give to me.  And if I am on the other side have mercy, O God, and help me weep and turn and follow you.    Amen.

Cindy's Journal Reflection ... God changed God’s mind!  In religious terms, God repented?  God turned and went in a different direction.  God was going to destroy evil, but God instead invited change … and brought transformation to a people … transformation that came through hearing a word from God AND from fasting and prayer, that's some serious self-evaluation.  God changed God’s mind.  I remember the many number of times I deserved to be destroyed but God chose life for me.  And I am grateful!  I remember how many times I have struggled to respond to God and God waited with me through my own serious self-evaluation.  And I am grateful!  I remember that sometimes I feel that I am inside the great fish, and sometimes I feel that I have been spit out upon the beach, and sometimes I get up and go!   Perhaps that is what serious self-evaluation takes.  If I am honest, today I am feeling that I am inside the great fish :( doing some serious self-evaluation myself ... and even though I don't feel it, I know that God is with me ... and I am so grateful!   Thank you God ... Amen.