The Sparrow Knows: Invitation to a Seven-Day Stay
Psalm 84 – Part 3
In springtime, when the sparrow flew in carrying twigs and brittle leaves, did she know?
When she lined the inside of that sprig bowl with soft grasses and downy feathers, did she know?
When she strained to push out fragile, all dappled in brown, did she know?
And when she settled in atop them and waited for life to crack out the sides, did she know?
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Did she know of the blazing, consuming fire that would soon fall so close to the kindling that formed her walls?
Did she know of the wrath that would pour out?
Did she know of the blood that would run down the sides?
Did she know of the life one would have to give?
Did she know of the loss that was coming?
Had she an inkling of the danger of building nests and birthing babes in the shadow of an altar?
Or in finding home in His dwelling place did she see only the refuge?
Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. (Psalm 84:3, emphasis added)
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A Challenge for You: Seven Days in a Psalm (or something)
Kelly said this in the comment box the other day, when I was on Day 7 hanging out in Psalm 84:
Seven days in a Psalm – I love how He draws you in the way He sees fit, the way that shows He knows you and why…
It got me to thinking.
I’ve been asked now and then how I do my time in the Word. Truth is, I try to do it with just one rule: Do it and do it daily. Beyond that, I start to get a little weird if I follow a schedule, guide, devotional book, or anything else that’s designed to be helpful.
It’s important to read the whole of the Word, and schedules help us with that. Devotional guides are great. Don’t get me wrong. But because of my wiring, it’s not long before I’m a slave to the schedule and I neglect to let God just lead. God and His Word become no more than a checkbox on the list, an accomplishment for the day, or a guilt-inducing burden.
And I hate when that happens.
Sometimes, the way I circumvent that is to just stay put. Every day for over a week now, I’ve met God in the same place. Psalm 84. Each time, we start the same way: Glorious, gracious Father, here we are. Speak. Show me. Show me the thing.
I figure this: God has something to tell me today. He has something to do in me today. He has something to do through me today. And He can do all that if I read one verse or 23, 12 pages or a paragraph, one chapter or ten.
Because He speaks.
I don’t need to march along at a predetermined pace to get what He wants to say. I have my whole life for Him to speak into.
So here’s my challenge to you today (I don’t tell you what to do very often, so humor me).
Pick a place, and stay there. For seven days.
Maybe a Psalm, maybe an Epistle, maybe a prophet. Really, does it matter? He wrote the whole thing. So pick a place, drop in your bookmark, and go back to it for the next seven days. Let God speak into you in that place for a week.
Don’t worry about your schedule and assigned chapters. Don’t worry about your devotional guide. They’ll be there when you get back.
Psalm 84 has all of 12 verses. I’m on Day 9. He told me something new again today. You and God, you can do this.
Meet God in the same place and insist to Him that He tell you something new every day for a week.
Then, meet me back here in seven days, and tell me something new.
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Photo: House sparrow in snowfall, by Juha Soininen via Stock.xchng
I love this, Lyla. And I love how He speaks to you. I think you are on to something here. I’m game. Picking up the challenge. Just have to figure where…
2010/06/30 at 1:03 PM
This would mean picking up in Jeremiah where I left off five years ago. He’s been hinting…
2010/06/30 at 1:48 PM
okay
2010/06/30 at 3:45 PM
Love this, Lyla. With this hospital stay (times two!), I’m in Ps 16. And I think I’ll be here for awhile (in the psalm NOT the hospital!) Thanks for the challenge.
2010/06/30 at 5:46 PM
We have been reading the Lord’s Prayer and its context, for two weeks now as a family every morning over the Family Table. And is has been a great blessing!
I will try to do what you are inviting us to do but this time by myself. I will be back in a week.
Gracias.
2010/06/30 at 6:09 PM
Oh, wow. I kind of expected the “blank stare” response here, so this is cool. I’ll remind us in a week.
Laura, I don’t always say so, but sometimes, it’s okay to drop and plop — let it fall open and go from there.
Kelly, I love Jeremiah. You’re not going to do the whole rest of the book in a week, right?
Nancy, one day you will teach me to use fewer words. I cannot.
Deb, I just went and read Psalm 16, thinking that I’d like to spend these next seven days where you are, since I can’t come see you where you are. Oh my. You’ve been sitting in a good place (again, the psalm, NOT the hospital). Where to begin. I love you, my friend. May your tongue rejoice and your body rest secure. (See? I really did go there and read…and I’ll be back.)
Becky, I love that. To read the same words, not in rote but in meditation, it’s a powerful thing. How cool that you are using that with your whole family.
There you have it folks, some great places to start — Psalm 16, Luke 11, someplace in Jeremiah . . . .
2010/06/30 at 7:32 PM
I love this idea, and I will give it a try! Although the checklist part of me thinks there is so much of the Bible to read, read, read. I realize you don’t really get what God is trying to tell you when you read, read, read. Good challenge.
2010/06/30 at 10:23 PM
Amy, there is so much! I often feel like I’m not getting through it fast enough, as though if I would just do it, I’d know all there was to know. And then He does something like have me sit still and listen to Him in a matter of just a few verses, over and over, and I get a lot less wigged out over it. (And that’s when I realize, too, that He’ll speak, no matter what. I just need to pay attention!)
2010/07/01 at 8:32 AM
Oh … Wow.
I’m soooooooo in.
Opening Bible now to see where He wants to go (as you say, HE WROTE THE WHOLE THING)
Opening, opening ….
And flip ….
Matthew 11.
Cool. I started there this morning anyhow. God’s fun like that, isn’t He?
2010/06/30 at 10:44 PM
Oh cool. Jennifer is in too! And Matthew 11 with a one-day head start? I hear there’s some rest in that one…
I was informed this morning that I’ll be spending the next seven days in Psalm 88. I like my friend Debbie’s Psalm 16 way better. I’m bracing for a week of contemplation and head pounding…
2010/07/01 at 8:35 AM
“Because He speaks.” This is just awesome–it’s the Lyla I’ve missed.
Will we have a big share fest in a week? I love to know how God speaks to others.
2010/07/06 at 12:47 AM
Jennifer, I’m still here.
The words haven’t been as much, with life pulling a lot of different ways right now. You might like to know I’ve got a hankering to spend some time with Jonah over the next few weeks, and maybe the words will start to emerge anew again with that.
Hope all is starting to settle with your move!
And yes, we’ll be meeting back up in in the next couple of days to see what seven days standing still has wrought.
2010/07/06 at 7:55 AM
Hi, I am a new reader and I found you through Jennifer @Getting Down With Jesus.
I think this is a great idea and I believe it will help me greatly!
2010/07/07 at 10:16 AM
Hello Tabitha, welcome! Thanks so much for stopping by. Jennifer’s is a great place to hang out…
2010/07/07 at 12:51 PM
Lyla — You know, this reminds me of the ancient practice of Lectio Divina. The reader takes a manageable passage, reads it through the first time, just so you get the gist. Reads it through the second time, you grab on to a theme. Reads it through a third time, you find a key word for that theme. Reads it through a fourth time, you let the spirit massage that word into your soul.
I have, of course, simplified this here, but I love the idea that any of God’s words, or even just one of them, can be used by his Spirit to really move us.
I am going to take up your challenge, even though I’m a few days late. Thanks!
2010/07/07 at 10:37 PM
Oh Charity, you make it sound like I’m on to something . . . when really I just do what it takes for Him to get through! But this is good. It’s a lot what we’re talking about here, I think. We’re so quick to push on — I read this passage today, I must read the next tomorrow. How many books did I read last year? How many blog posts? How many articles?
Particularly with the Word, why are we resistant to just sitting with it as long as it takes to let Him speak?
2010/07/08 at 5:16 AM