How to Meditate on Scripture Using the Lectio Divina

I love a good, structured Bible study. The kind that has all of the explanations of the passage based on history and theology. Plus all the questions to help you reflect and absorb a particular way of reading and understanding that passage. 

            But there are times where I need something different. Something more open ended. 

            I need an approach to reading and spending time with scripture that isn’t focused on one set lesson and me getting something out of the reading immediately. 

            I desire an approach that forces me to slow down. To spend time with God and wait for the Lord to show me what it is I need to see. 

            That’s where the practice of Lectio Divina steps in. 

            The phrase comes from Latin and means divine reading. The practice teaches a believer to learn to listen for divine guidance and sit in the stillness waiting for God to speak. 

            Lectio Divina can be traced back to the early days of Christianity, but it was the work of Benedict of Nursia that made the practice a large part of medieval monasticism. Later, in the 12th century, a monk named Guigo II turned it into the four-step process used to this day. 

            Some have suggested Romans 10:8-10 as the biblical foundation of the practice. 

8 But what does it say?

“The word is near you,
             on your lips and in your heart” 

(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

Romans 10:8-10 (NRSV)

            While this passage might be familiar, especially if you grew up in evangelical circles or ever memorized the Roman Road as a way of explaining how salvation works, the way this passage is understood by contemplatives is different. 

            Rather than solely focusing on the ins and outs of how salvation works, some contemplatives use this as a basis for a particular way to read scripture. You read the scripture out loud (the word is on your lips) and you meditate on and contemplate what it means (the word is in your heart). 

            Instead of a one time profession of faith (how verse 9 is taught by the Roman Road), Lectio Divina encourages a believer to make that confession of faith every day. Each day is a new moment to acknowledge what you believe to be true in both your head and your heart. 

            Although it began as an individual practice to be completed in solitude, Lectio Divina can also be done in a group setting. I’ve found that it works well in more open ended and discussion based Bible studies. It highlights how each of us sees or hears something different in the passage based on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

            So now that you’ve got a brief idea of how it started and what it’s purpose is, let’s go through each of the steps. (Note: this doesn’t have to be a rigid structure you follow. This is just one way to approach a meditative reading of scripture)

1. Initial Reading

            The first step is to begin with prayer asking God to meet you in this space and guide you through the reading. 

            After sitting in stillness for a few moments, read through the passage for the first time, ideally out loud. 

            Don’t worry about making connections or trying to immediately figure out what the passage means or who it’s asking you to become. Just sit with scripture.

            As you’re reading through the verses for the first time, be mindful of anything that stands out to you and write it down. (If you’re looking for a structured guide to walk you through the Lectio Divina with space to write things down, you can find one that I’ve created here.) 

            If you are practicing this in a group, you can ask if anyone would like to share what stood out to them. They don’t need to be prepared to give any sort of explanation, instead each person shares a word from the passage that grabbed their attention. 

2. Reflection             

            There are two ways you can approach this second step. 

            You can choose to immediately go into a time of reflection, thinking about what the passage means. This allows you to flow seamlessly between the first two steps.

            Or you can choose to slowly read through the passage a second time, again listening for things that stand out to you. This is my preferred method since I tend to catch even more after a second reading. 

            Regardless of how you approach the second step, your focus in this portion of the practice should be thinking about what God is revealing to you in this section of scripture.

            Go back to any words or phrases that stood out to you in the reading. Why did they stand out? What do you think the meaning of it is? 

            What is God trying to teach you in this moment? What kind of person are you being asked to become? What kinds of things or behaviors are you being directed to leave behind? 

            I would suggest spending the most time in this section. Don’t try and rush through it and grasp for answers. Lectio Divina is all about slowing down, practicing patience, and dwelling in the presence of God through scripture.  

            If nothing comes up right away, that’s alright. Be patient and sit in the silence until God speaks. Your job is to be open and ready to listen when those nudgings from the Holy Spirit come. 

            Again, if you are doing this as a group practice, spend time in the silence contemplating before you begin sharing things as a group. As individuals share insights they had, you may choose to discuss them further and dig deeper into the lessons. Or you could choose to let individuals share their thoughts and return back to sitting in silence without having a discussion. 

3. Prayer

            I suggest reading through the passage one final time to see if anything else comes up for you. It’s also a good way of digging even deeper into any connections you’ve made in the previous steps. 

            Once you feel ready, begin to pray about the things you were shown in your reading. Up until now, you’ve been listening to God speak, and now it is your turn to respond to the Lord’s guidance. 

            In a group practice you might choose to sit in silence for a few minutes while everyone prays individually and then have a volunteer pray. Or you can allow for multiple individuals to pray out loud as they feel led to do so. 

4. Contemplation & Meditation  

            I’ll be honest, in my own practice, steps three and four tend to blur together. You may find that it’s the same for you, or you can choose to keep them distinct. 

            This last section is a return to the stillness and silence. Sitting in the presence of God as you continue to absorb what all you have been shown that day. 

            You may decide to set a timer on your phone and sit in the silence meditating or practicing silent prayer for a certain amount of time. This allows space for God to speak to you once again.

             This approach also reinforces the idea that we as believers are seeking a relationship with God. Conversation can’t just be about us praying to God and never holding space for God to speak to us. By ending your Bible study time with silent meditation, you allow your relationship with God to grow deeper. 

            Another approach to this final step that I often use myself is to spend a short time in silence after you finish your prayer, and then to choose one word or phrase to think on for the rest of the day.

            This could be the same word or phrase that stood out to you at the very beginning of the reading, or it could be something else that was revealed to you later on in the practice. 

            You then move through the rest of your day repeating this word or phrase to yourself as a way of recalling what you learned through the Lectio Divina. I find that this helps me internalize the lessons more than if I had simply written things down in step two, prayed, and then carried on about my day.

            And there you have it. The Lectio Divina is an incredibly useful and powerful practice that allows for wisdom and learning through scripture, but also creates space for more encounters with God. 

            It teaches us how to slow down and spend time with God rather than demanding short and simple answers from both the Bible and our prayer lives. 

            I hope you try it out and see for yourself how wonderful it can be. 

          If you’re looking for a step by step guide you can print out and follow to help you incorporate this practice into your daily life, you can find one I created here. 

            If you’re interested in other ways to pray through and meditate on scripture, I would recommend checking out this post that teaches you how to pray through the Psalms (it’s based on the Lectio Divina).