You may have heard of Lectio Divina--but chances are good that you haven't. Essentially it is a method of reading Scripture, meeting God there and having him apply it to your life. It is thousands of years old. I'm not going to explain how to do it but at the end of this post, I will post a link that will explain it to you very clearly.
Today while reading my daily passage of Scripture I felt a couple of verses leap out at me and demanding more of me than a mere "skim through." I had been reading that link on Lectio Divina...and because I had practiced Lectio in the past, it was not a big leap for me to decide to pursue these couple of verses in that manner.
Here is the passage:: Daniel 2:21b-22
Here is the passage:: Daniel 2:21b-22
He gives wisdom to wise men
And knowledge to men of understanding.
22 “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And the light dwells with Him.
As I meditated, I was writing what God was showing me. I am a writer. I do not understand something unless I have written it...so even though "escribio" is not part of Lectio for most people, for me it is. Here is what God showed me in this passage:
In the depths of my depression: God knew
what was in my past darkness and the solution lay with Him—He was there had I had the humility to
look and to call out to Him.
My future is darkness also. There is nothing good about it.
But God knows, anticipates and has a plan
for me in the midst of that darkness.
Seek Him! Call out to Him.!.Most
importantly: make room for Him in my heart and soul and mind.
Love him wholeheartedly and He will provide
light for me in that dark place.
God also is in the midst of my future
blindness.(For those of you who don't know: I am losing my sight) He has a plan. He holds my hand and directs me. The Darkness is Light to Him. "I will fear no evil for Thou art with me."
In all these areas of darkness in my life....in my past (depression) in my future (disability, pain, and blindness) and in my present (pain as well as uncertainty about my future... God is in the midst of this darkness...He is intimately acquainted with it. And HE IS MY PATH THROUGH THAT DARKNESS. He may take me out of the darkness...or he may just comfort me with his presence in the darkness.
To those of you who struggle with the darkness of depression: I have intimate understanding of what that is like. It takes a lot of courage to reach out of your despair and grasp the hand that God is holding out to you. I wasted many years in complete misery being depressed because of my mental illness (Schizophrenia) and my anger about that directed at God for letting it happen to me. I will not engage in a theological discussion about God's Sovereignty and his Goodness ...there are many books that deal with that. (If you want info on that, email me; cynthialottvogel@gmail,com). What I am trying to say to you is: God Knows, God Cares, And he is the Source of your Healing.
Somehow the thought that God was THERE in the middle of those years of mental anguish, hit me right in the gut. I did so much to push God away and to deny that he exists...but none the less, he was THERE...seeing me through it....Obstructing my attempts at suicide. Saving me. Keeping me. Because he had better things in mind for me.
Here is that link on Lectio Divina (there are also books on it...Search on Amazon)
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