pdave.me

I thought I’d meditate through Psalms 23 with all of you this week.

This week at Kfirst, we are focusing on a meditative approach to the scriptures. “Meditation” is, perhaps, the most underused and misunderstood approach to the bible. Often, “meditation” is associated with eastern religions or New Age “disconnecting.” Scriptural meditation is not about disconnecting but engaging with the text in order to digest it.

Check out Day 1 HERE 
Check out Day 2 HERE
Check out Day 3 HERE
Check out Day 4 HERE

As we are taking a meditative approach to Psalm 23, we’re going to do it bit by bit. One of my favorite “meditation” tactics is using the 5 senses in the context of the scripture. Other tactics can include memorizing scripture, focusing on specific phrases, speaking aloud, journaling, and praying it.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell^[ in the house of the Lord forever.” ESV
“Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.” NLT
“Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.” MSG
“So why would I fear the future? For your goodness and love pursue me all the days of my life. Then afterward, when my life is through, I’ll return to your glorious presence to be forever with you!“ TPT

My meditative thoughts today:

So often I’ve been told that if I pursue God harder, I’ll “get” more of Him in my life. So much of my theology/belief was very driven by what I can accomplish so that I can say, “look what I was able to discover based upon my abilities to chase down God.”

First, I don’t chase God. He passionately pursues me. His goodness and mercy/unfailing love are after me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. His Spirit draws me to Him. His Spirit reveals who He is.

Second, the things I do to “deepen me” (scriptures, prayer, worship, community, etc.) are not there to “get more of God” but to become more aware of Him. God doesn’t show up more than He is in this moment. He is omnipresent. BUT I can have a greater awareness of His presence and how He is at work in and around me.

Lastly, hope is now and forever. Because I am pursued by hope I can have it now. But I don’t have to worry about “using it up” here on this earth. A hope awaits me. I will rest in His hope now. I will rest in His Hope forever.

Amen

Check out the service from Sunday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

Love you all.

Thanks for letting me ramble…