Your Future!
If you’d like some step-by-step guidance in doing lectio divina style moments with God, you may want to check out The Message//Remix: Solo, An Uncommon Devotional. As one of the three writers of this product, I’m offering you a sneak peek at one of the exercises. Enjoy.
The Peaceable Kingdom of God Isaiah 11:6-9
6The wolf will romp with the lamb,
the leopard sleep with the kid.
Calf and lion will eat from the same trough,
and a little child will tend them.
7Cow and bear will graze the same pasture,
their calves and cubs grow up together,
and the lion eat straw like the ox.
8The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens,
the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent.
9Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill on my holy mountain.
The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive,
a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide.
Read
Read the passage aloud slowly, noting how natural enemies are co-existing side by side (wolf and lamb, cow and bear, toddler and serpent).
Reflect
Read the passage again, noting which images are most powerful or amazing to you.
This passage gives us a vivid picture of the kingdom of God as it will exist in the future—what a different place that will be!
Interact with this passage in one of these ways depending on what stood out to you:
- Reflect on what you would like best about such a peaceable world—one that is “brimming with knowing God-Alive, a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide.”
- Reflect on what feelings would be present in these creatures to exist this way (for example, serenity).
- Name your own natural enemies and imagine them standing beside you, with you, for you. You might choose political enemies (parties, opponents, countries, regions), family members or coworkers or acquaintances you’re at odds with, an animal or a natural element that’s difficult for you (for example, spiders, if you don’t like spiders).
Respond
Tell God how you feel about such a peaceable world. Tell God what you think such a world shows you about him.
Rest
Ponder the idea that this passage describes your future reality. You will experience this. This is the place God is creating for you.
To learn more about meditating on Scripture, especially using the style of lectio divina, see chapter 6 of ’Savoring Gods Word.
Grace and peace,
Jan Johnson
www.JanJohnson.org
______________________________________________________________________
© Jan Johnson – For permission to reprint, Click Here
