Find Your Place Of Rest

Guest Post by Deb Potts

His Word:  Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.   Psalm 62:5

Observation & Obedience: Rest. How do you find rest? Some would say rest happens when we’re reading, taking a walk, watching TV, knitting, or even sleeping. True rest is none of these things. 

“Rest is the absence of striving, working, accomplishing, thinking, worrying, or planning. It’s not sleep. It’s not taking a walk. It’s a waking sleep, but you are alert and aware.” Rubin Naiman, PhD, is a sleep specialist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona’s Center for Integrated Medicine. He says, “We don’t “go to” sleep or “go to” rest. We achieve rest when we make space for it and allow it to happen.”

Meditation is one way to find rest. It has been found to lower heart rates, blood pressure, and oxygen consumption, alleviate hypertension, arthritis, insomnia, depression, infertility, cancer and anxiety.  But meditation for Christians has so many more benefits.

Rest can be found for Christians in meditation of the Scriptures. If we can discipline our minds to meditate effectively we can truly “find rest in God.”

Meditation is a Christian tradition going back to the 3rd century. Origen wrote about the process of Scriptural reflection and interpretation, St. Ambrose taught his methods to St. Augustine, and the practice was later adopted by monks. Today this ancient tradition is still in use, called Lectio Divina, which means “divine reading.”

Lectio Divina consists of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and increase our knowledge of God’s word. It doesn’t treat Scripture as texts to be studied but as the Living Word, intended to bring us into a more intimate relationship with Jesus.

There are four steps in Lectio Divina: reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation. 

• Reading (lectio). Read the passage attentively, reverently, slowly. Lectio is a listening kind of reading, allowing the words to resonate with you. You may read the passage several times or just linger on one particular phrase as the Spirit leads you. Don’t rush it, take your time.

• Meditation (meditatio). This is the human response to God’s word. Ponder, ruminate, and savor the words you read. Be expectant for God to reveal Himself to you through these words. Consciously open yourself to God, allow Him to touch your heart and speak to you. Ask yourself, “what do these words mean in my life?” Be honest with yourself when you feel a nudge from God.

• Prayer (oratio). Pray from your heart. This is your response to Him as a result of the first two steps. Words may escape you; a sigh may be all that’s necessary. Remember Mary’s words, “Thy will be done.”

• Contemplation (contemplatio). This is God’s turn to respond. This is a spiritual gaze; God’s gaze into our souls, and our gaze in faith back to Him. It’s being fully known and fully loved. It’s looking God right in the eye without reservation. Your whole self becomes focused on the Lord. It can become deep, personal, intimate, and tearful. It’s child-like, it’s surrender. His gaze will purify our hearts, minds, souls and bodies. It’s only at this final stage where we enter into true rest. 

The practice of Lectio Divina won’t come naturally to most of us. It takes time to discipline our minds to be so still and contemplative. But with practice, we can enter into that “soul rest” that we hunger for. Choose a short passage of Scripture, perhaps in Isaiah or the Psalms, or in your favorite book of the Bible. Keep a journal of your experiences so you can record what God has taught you. 

Prayer: “ Abba, I so desperately need You close to my heart. I long to feel Your breath on my cheek, Your arm around my shoulders. I would give anything to see the love in Your eyes as they gaze on me. Teach me to be quiet and still and willing to wait for Your gentle nudge. Then help me to be obedient to Your good and holy will. Amen. “

Encouragement:  It’s true that the voice of God, having once fully penetrated the heart, becomes strong as the tempest and loud as the thunder, but before reaching the heart it is as weak as a light breath which scarcely agitates the air. It shrinks from noise, and is silent amid agitation. St. Ignatius of Loyola 

Thank You Deb Potts