Fire in the soul during Meditating, Musing & Praying.

A favorite text used the centuries ago to describe the experience of prayerful meditation before the Lord and his Word was:

“My heart was hot within me, and while I was thus musing the fire kindled: and at the last I spake with my tongue, ‘LORD let me know mine end…’” [Psalm 39:3, from The Book of Common Prayer, 1662, cf. the KJV]

This translation has a distinct relation to the Vulgate [Latin] version of the Psalm used in medieval and early modern Europe in thousands of monasteries, convents and churches.

Why did this particular text seem to describe the felt experience of those who (in what was called the lectio divina) spent time in quiet before the Lord to ponder and pray over what they had heard and read in the lectio continua [the continuous reading of the Bible and chanting of the Psalter] of the daily offices?

The answer to the question requires that we enter the internal description of what those seriously committed to daily meditation believed they were doing.

First of all, they placed themselves in the presence of God, confessed their sins and asked for grace and inspiration. Then from memory (perhaps assisted by a text) they recalled some particular Word of the Lord heard and read earlier. Using their powers of imagination, they pictured the original scene from which the Word came. At the same time with their reason and intellect they sought to understand it by approaching it from various angles and with differing questions. Then they sought by the truths of the Word of God to raise their affections – their desire, hope, love, and joy – towards God the Father through Jesus Christ. Here they often experienced the inner warmth, glow, of the witness of the Holy Spirit with their spirit. That is, the fire kindled as they mused and raised their souls towards God. And with the fire kindled and the heart warmed their will was directed aright and they were prepared to make resolutions and commitments to the Lord and engage in genuine prayer.

The underlying belief was this: the whole soul has been affected by the disease of sin and this is seen most clearly in the affections and the will, together with the imagination. Thus in meditation, the whole soul (memory, intellect, imagination, affections and will) is to be engaged; further, the raising of the affections has to proceed (for there to be the real possibility of engagement with God and his truth) from consideration of, and pondering over, the Word and Truth of God. To begin with the affections is, for most people, not wise for they can be as wild horses and not controllable! They need to informed and warmed by the Word of the Lord before directed to embrace the Lord.

“While I was thus musing [considering, reflecting and thinking about God’s revealed Word] the fire kindled” and I was alive before God, ready to converse with him!

[There is a major chapter on praying the psalms in the forthcoming, Worship without Dumbing-down. Knowing God through Liturgy, by Peter Toon. This is available from August 15, 2005 for $12.50 post paid from The Prayer Book Society, Box 35220, Philadelphia, PA.19128-0220; phone 1 800 727 1928; and from its website, www.anglicanmarketplace.com ]

The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon MA., D.Phil (Oxford)