Hearts Set Aflame

When I started my journey into Lectio Divina I wasn't expecting much. I love guided meditation, but I also love the fact that I get to really meditate on God's word. I didn't expect much. However, I have been doing Lectio Divina for a few days now, I started well before Lent so that I could get my first few days out of the way and learn the steps to really embracing the thought of Lectio Divina. 

My second day of Lectio Divina, was from Obadiah. Some history on Obadiah, Obadiah wrote this shortest book of the Old Testament probably soon after the armies of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem (586 b.c.). During this conquest, the people of Edom helped capture fleeing Israelites and turn them over to the Babylonians. They even took up residence in some Judean villages. This angered the Lord, for the Edomites, as descendants of Esau, were related to the Israelites (Gen. 25:21–26, 30) and therefore should have helped them. Obadiah prophesied that Edom would be repaid for mistreating God’s people. Obadiah also asserted that God is sovereign over the nations and that the house of Jacob would be restored because of God’s covenant love for his people. (1)

Lectio (Reading):

15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. 16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been. 17 But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions. 18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken. 19 Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines; they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. 20 The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negeb. 21 Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s. (Ob. 1:15-21) (2)

Meditatio (Meditation): The verse here that really spoke to me was "The house of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble." At first I was confused, but as I thought more on the prophecy, the house of Esau is the nations/unbelievers. Those who don't know God. The houses of Jacob and Joseph are both fires that burn in the hearts of God's people being sent forth for revival. In the setting of the scripture these were the Jewish people; but if we are reading it today, I believe it is Jew and Gentile that believe in Messiah, whose hearts are truly set aflame, nothing could stop the gospel from going forth and we may even see a revival taking place. 

Oratio (Prayer): Father, help us to become like the houses of Jacob and Joseph. People who call upon you, who come to you with every ounce of our being, so that we may be set aflame and revival come upon our land. 

Contemplatio (Rest): Resting in God's Presence; this is where we are not doing anything, rather we are sitting still, understanding that words are not necessary. We need to be at peace with the rest in God. This is not a time of our action, but rather God's action in us.

(1) The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ob.

(2) The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.