10 Apr Slowing Down To Read Scripture: The 5 Steps of Lectio Divina

I have always enjoyed reading scripture. When I was a little girl I remember playing “church” with my friends. We would open up our family Bible and read for hours. Of course we had one of those Bibles that took up a whole end table. It was a picture bible with artist renderings of David and Goliath, Samson and Delilah and even vivid pictures of Jesus on the cross. This was a two-handed Bible for sure, and it was the King James version. The way it would go is that my friend would read a scripture and then I would explain it. Being about eight or nine at the time, you can imagine that my interpretations were, well let’s say, colorful.

Godly Habits

As I remember, it was also early on that I developed a habit of reading scripture regularly. Even then I knew that it was important to continue reading scripture. Soon I discovered the New King James version and the New International Version. I remember making the switch and realizing how different God’s word was when I read in those translations; it was like opening my eyes to a new language. For me, re-reading all the stories I had read in the King James version helped the stories come alive.

Also during this time I developed the habit of reading the Psalms and Proverbs every month. An old pastor helped me develop this habit. He showed me that if I started on the first of each month by reading five Psalms a day, along with one Proverb, I could get through both books once a month. I found this useful at that time of my life. It helped me to get a good foundation of the basic godly principles found in these books.

Burn Out

Despite my early love for reading scripture, as I got older I found myself taking less and less time to read it. It was not for lack of love of God but I felt burnt out for many, many years of my life. If I’m being honest, I wrestled with my faith and my interior life and so scripture was sort of hollow to me. In my experience, scripture was used as either a weapon to back skewed perspectives or it was somewhat offensive and I didn’t understand how to hold it close.

The distance between scripture and me grew larger and larger and eventually I rarely picked up the bible. As an avid follower of Christ this was unacceptable to me and the shame I felt around this was immense. I knew that there was something at the root of my lack of desire to read scripture but I could not name it. As more and more time passed I became less and less bothered by this lack of interest in God’s word until finally it did not bother me at all.

Lectio Divina

Many years passed by and I was encouraged by my spiritual director to try reading less scripture slowly over time. Now when I say slowly, I mean verse by verse. This method of reading the bible is called Lectio Divina. This is a Latin phrase that means divine reading. We find the roots of Lectio in the Benedictine Order but it has most recently been brought to the attention of followers of Christ by Father Thomas Keating.

Divine Reading

This slow reading of God’s word draws you in closer as it requires you to SLOW DOWN. As I look back on the struggles I was having I realized it was mostly due to the fact that I was trying to get a checkmark for the day. I did not care so much for the quality of time I spent with God, I was just trying to rush through it. So much of my daily routine was just to mark off my spiritual checklist: pray (check), read scripture (check), not leaving any time for the spirit of God to lead or direct me. Now, I want to be clear, there is nothing wrong with a routine, I understand how useful it can be to stick to a schedule. However, in my case, I was more committed to the routine so I could feel like I had accomplished something than wanting to spend time in communion with God.

1. Prepare

Life pushes and pulls us in every direction unless we are anchored in Christ. A great way to combat the busy hurried life we find ourselves immersed in is by slowing down. I find Lectio to be a great way to counter the anxious world we live in. There are five steps to Lectio Divina. The first step is ‘Prepare’. Just like it sounds this is a time to prepare your heart, body, and mind to begin. I do some deep breaths and sit in silence for a bit before reading. I make sure I am in a place that is free from distraction, I don’t have my phone, my door is closed and my computer is off. I will also grab a pen and my journal to write down what God speaks to me during our time.

2. Read and 3. Meditate

Step two is Read. The scripture you read is up to you but there is a suggestion of how much you read and how many times you read it. The amount you read should be very small, at the most a paragraph, but I usually do a couple of sentences at a time. During the first reading I will ask the Lord “What are You speaking to me in this text today?” After I pray, usually the Lord will highlight a word or phrase in the text and I will write it down.

4. Pray

The amount of times you read the selection should be at least four. The first time you read you are familiarizing yourself with the text. The second time you should try to imagine yourself in scripture. Imagine the sights, the smells, the emotion in the text. If I am reading a passage about Jesus and the disciples I’ll imagine myself to be there as one of the disciples or a bystander. The third reading I will try to view the text from a different perspective that I hadn’t considered before. And finally at the beginning of the fourth reading I ask again, “Lord, is there anything else that you are trying to say to me in this scripture?”

5. Contemplate

Steps 2-5 will all take place simultaneously after the first reading. While you read (step 2), you will also do the following: Meditate (step 3), Pray (step 4), and contemplate (step 5), as you read and re-read your passage. If it seems confusing don’t get frustrated, the more you practice Lectio, the more comfortable you will become doing it.

God seeks quality time with us, the amount of time is not as important. Slowing down to hear what He is speaking to us in scripture will cause our roots to go deeper in Him, and refresh and restore our souls. If you find yourself in a similar place I was in, or even if you are just wanting to go deeper in God, Lectio Divina is a good place to start. It is not difficult to begin practicing Lectio Divina, and I did use the word practice here intentionally, because all it takes is consistency to get into a good rhythm.