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Paul's pivotal life experience is referred to as the Calling of Paul or the Damascus Road Experience--the day Jesus confronted Paul. Luke recorded the original incident in Acts 9:

The next prayer we'll investigate is straightforward enough, but the action the apostles took seems curious to us. Shortly after Jesus "was taken up and disappeared in a cloud" (Acts 1:9, technically called the Ascension), and some time before Pentecost, Peter persuaded the other disciples to replace Judas Iscariot, to return their number to twelve.

Peter quoted Psalm 109:8: "Give him a short life, and give his job to somebody else." He went on to explain that the replacement needed to have been a part of the Jesus Movement from the beginning at Jesus' baptism, through the years of Jesus' ministry, to Jesus' resurrection from the dead and his ascension. The criteria seemed to have narrowed the choices down to two: Joseph Barsabbas, also called Justus, and Matthias. The disciples all apparently agree with Peter on the criteria, because they prayed,

You, O God, know every one of us inside and out. Make plain which of these two men you choose to take the place in this ministry and leadership that Judas threw away in order to go his own way. (Acts 1:24-25)

I can hardly imagine a person praying during his torture and execution. I find it even more difficult to imagine that person praying for his executors. But Jesus was no ordinary person.

He loved people to the end, and he prayed that his Father would forgive the people who killed him.

What an extraordinary accomplishment!

Near the beginning of Solomon's reign, he does what we hope any ruler would do. In 1 Kings 3, he asks God for wisdom. After Solomon marries his queen, he travels to Gibeon to worship at the shrine (before the temple in Jerusalem was finished). There, he and God have a dialogue.

This one is different from the prayers we've looked at previously for two reasons: (1) the communication is initiated by God, and (2) it takes place in a dream. Neither of these differences disqualifies it from being a prayer. In fact, it falls perfectly within our definition of prayer being a conversation with God.

This isn't the first we hear about Solomon. In the previous chapter, we read that he was involved in the murder of three men and that he banished Abiathar the priest from the land. These may be the dirty but necessary parts of being king, but they're still a tough way for Solomon to begin his reign. It's with this in mind that the young king goes off to conference with God in Gibeon.

Some years after Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt and after Joshua took them into the land that God had promised Abram, Israel was led by a series of judges. Moses picked the first judges, people who feared God and were known to be trustworthy and uncorrupt.

After Joshua died, but before the people of Israel demanded a king, the Israelites attempted to settle in the Promised Land. It was a time of great turbulence. The judges, whose lives are recorded in the Old Testament book of Judges, ruled during this interim. They weren't quite kings, but instead were the heads of families who rose to prominence for their great wisdom. Gideon and Samson were two of the more famous judges.

Last week, I ran some excerpts of a book I've written on the ancient practice of lectio divina. This week, I'll be posting excerpts from another book called Ask Seek Knock, in which I wrote about how we can use...

Praying the Bible Intro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplating Writing about contemplation is strange. It's weird because the fourth step of lectio divina is so unlike our everyday activities. The first three steps of...

Praying the Bible Intro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplating In the movie The Apostle, Robert Duvall plays Sonny, a preacher-evangelist who has made a few mistakes in his life, one of them a big...

Praying the BibleIntro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplatingDepending on what version of the Bible you use, the word meditate appears about fifteen times in the Old Testament. (It's not used at all in the...

Praying the Bible Intro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplating One of the best meals I've ever had was in an upscale restaurant, Daniel's Bistro, in New York City. My entrée was called the DB...

Praying the Bible Intro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplating Though dates differ, Guigo II lived from about 1115 to 1198. His official title was the Ninth Prior of the Grand Chartreuse of Carthusians. That's...

Praying the Bible Intro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplating For the last couple weeks, I've written some ecclesial and theological provocations. For the next couple weeks I'm going to focus on spirituality -- namely,...