Sunday, June 7, 2015

Struggling with Focus

In the tenth chapter of Keller's work on prayer he addresses how to meditate on the Word. A common struggle with a time of meditation is getting distracted. Suddenly all the worries of the day come flying back to the forefront of our mind and any hope of getting some studying done is over before it even began. Keller addresses this and uses some quotes from John Owen to explain his thoughts.
Like Martin Luther - who knew that sometimes the Holy Spirit begins immediately to "preach to you" and sometimes he does not - Owen is quite realistic. He admits that sometimes, no matter what we do, we simply cannot concentrate, or we find our thoughts do not become big and affecting, but rather we feel bored, hard, and distracted. Then, Owen says, simply turn to God and make brief, intense appeals for help. Sometimes that is all you will do the rest of your scheduled time, and sometimes the very cries for help serve to concentrate the mind and soften the heart. He writes: "When, after this preparation, you find yourselves yet perplexed and entangled, not able comfortably to persist in spiritual thoughts unto your refreshment . . . cry and sigh to God for help and relief." Even if your meditations give you only a "renewed gracious sense of your own weakness and insufficiency," that is by no means a waste of time. It is bringing you into greater touch with spiritual reality. Then, he adds, our expressions of grief at the sense of God's absence are themselves ways to show love to God, and they will not go unappreciated by him.
 

1 comment:

  1. I like that he notes that our very propensity to be distracted demonstrates a profound spiritual truth; our weakness. Recognizing this and taking it to God is, therefore, a valuable thing when we just get focus.

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