Day By Day #19

Day by Day #19

MORNING/MIDDAY OFFICE

Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading: Psalm 95:1–3, 7b–8

            Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;

               let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

            Let us come before him with thanksgiving

               and extol him with music and song.

            For the LORD is the great God,

               the great King above all gods. . . .

            Today, if only you would hear his voice,

            “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,

               as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness.”

Devotional

From Genesis to Revelation, the biblical writers issue repeated calls to gratitude, calls to “come before him with thanksgiving.” This giving of thanks to the living God, who is the source of all goodness in our lives, provides the antidote to our tendency to harden our hearts. This is especially true when we find ourselves in a desert experience of disappointment, suffering, or loss. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes:

Only he who gives thanks for little things receives the big things. We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts he has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts. . . . We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from him the little things?^a

Albert Borgmann, a Christian philosopher, cuts to the heart of this lifestyle of thanksgiving in the midst of challenging times by breaking it down to four affirmations. Each serves as an antidote to the restlessness and discontent so prevalent in our day:

            There is no place I would rather be.

            There is nothing I would rather do.

            There is no one I would rather be with.

            This I will remember well.^b

In a culture rife with entitlement and complaint, it is no small task to “Come before the Lord with thanksgiving.” But if we commit to this spiritual formation practice, we find that it has the power to lead us to a new place, even to a Promised Land of great joy.

Question to Consider

Take a moment to think back over the last twenty-four hours. What “ordinary and small gifts” did God entrust to you for which you can be thankful?

Prayer

Father, I recognize that everything in my life is a gift from your hand, that I am completely dependent on you. Thank you for the earth, the sky, my very breath, and the work many others have done to enable me to enjoy the gift of life today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

MIDDAY/EVENING OFFICE

Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading: 1 John 4:1–3

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Devotional

Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), the founder of the Jesuits, developed a classic discernment model that maintains a balance between reason (intellect) and feelings (heart). He provided excellent guidelines on how God speaks to us through our deepest feelings and yearnings, something he called “consolations” and “desolations.”

Consolations are those feelings that fill us with joy, life, energy, and peace, connecting us more deeply with God. Desolations are those experiences that drain us and feel like death, disconnecting us from God, ourselves, and others.

His unique contribution was providing a structured way to acknowledge feelings as important indicators of how God reveals his will to us and how we can “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1). Within this framework, feelings are not ends in and of themselves but a means to know God and his love. Author Alice Fryling says it well:

The goal in focusing on feelings is not to wallow in them. Nor is it just to clarify thinking. The goal is to notice and embrace the presence of God in this experience. When this happens, the peace that comes “transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). In other words, we cannot think our way into God’s peace; it’s beyond understanding. The Bible also says that the love of God “surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19). No matter how much we know, God’s love is deeper, so sometimes the route to this peace-beyond-knowing is through our feelings.^c

This point bears repeating: the goal is not to think our way into God’s will. Our task is “to notice and embrace the presence of God.” And sometimes it is our feelings that lead us to peace that transcends all understanding.

Question to Consider

Briefly reflect on the events and interactions of your last twenty-four hours. Then ask yourself: When did I experience joy, peace, increased energy, or a sense of God’s presence (consolation)? And when did I experience sadness, apathy, energy draining out of me, or a sense of God’s absence (desolation)?

Prayer

Father, you know how easily I forget about you for hours at a time. I ask you for grace and power to pay attention and listen to you during all my waking hours. Help me to recognize your voice when you speak to me through my consolations and desolations. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

^a Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community (New York: Harper and Row, 1954), 29.

^b Quoted in Arthur Boers, Living into Focus: Choosing What Matters in an Age of Distractions (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2012), 185.

^c Alice Fryling, Seeking God Together: An Introduction to Group Spiritual Direction (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 63–64.