Soaking…sounds
like a bath doesn’t it. Something you
need to get into to make your stressed body relax and let your mind take you
out of the real world to some imaginary place.
You expect to hear “Calgon…. take
me away!!!!” …. but that’s not the soaking I’m interested in.
The
word soak or a variant of it is found in Psalm 65:10 in the Christian Standard
Bible version, it states:
You soften it with showers and bless its growth,soaking its furrows and leveling its ridges.
This
scripture is speaking of the earth, the land. It’s easy
to understand that this soaking is such that it changes the very
landscape. Furrows and ridges are brought down. However, many have probably
not heard of the Christian Standard Bible version so let me assuage any
concerns. Whether you look to the King
James, the Amplified, the American Standard, the English Standard or the New International
Version, you will find drench, and soften with such an understanding that the
furrows and ridges are settled by an abundance of water. So, for my purposes I have no concerns over
using the word soak for it means to slake the thirst of, to satiate, to
satisfy, to water abundantly. A land
that is softened by showers and whose furrows are soaked to the point of
leveling the land is truly a land whose thirst for water has been satisfied.
So, let me
ask the question that this is pointing towards,
Are you
satisfied?
Has your thirst been
slaked?
Satiated?
Do you feel
abundantly watered?
Or do you feel like a
land that is waiting for that rain,
waiting for those showers to fall?
waiting for those showers to fall?
There have
been many times in my life that I have felt like my life was a dry desert, a
wilderness in which nothing grew well but weeds. Where I felt I was either deaf and incapable
of hearing God or else he just wasn’t speaking to me.
The problem is, I would never shut up!
It was ingrained in me that prayer was just me
talking to God but that is so wrong!
Prayer is a conversation, a dialogue but we have turned it into a
monologue. When we are done talking we shut
down, walk away and then wonder why God isn’t talking to us.
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Truth is – God doesn’t have a problem talking to us…. we have a problem listening. |
Be still
and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10) comes to mind and while that scripture in
context comes out of a revelation that God is our refuge and strength, there
are other scriptures that also speak of getting still or being silent. Ecclesiastes 3:7 tells us there is a time to
speak and a time to be silent, Psalm 37:7 says to be still and wait patiently,
Psalm 62:5 says to wait in silence, Job says, teach me and I’ll be silent.
I think the scripture I would turn to most here is Psalm
131:2,
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
This is what I see when I think of soaking. This is what my spirit, my soul, my mind, my
very being needs.
BUT, where is there
and how do I get there?
“There” is a place of contentment, in the arms of my provider, totally and fully dependent on his care for me.“How” do I get there is dependent on me, so for the rest of this post I’ll tell you what I do and how I got to this place of “soaking.”
For me, silence on my part is of
the utmost importance as is the lack of distraction. I will go to a place where I can be alone or
with a small group of others of like mind.
I choose Christian songs that bring me a sense of peace and calmness so
of course no upbeat music but I don’t want to go to sleep necessarily
either. The music is loud enough to give
a buffer to everything outside the place I’m in or at, but not loud enough to demand
the whole of my attention.
I sit or
stand or lay down or lean on or up against something, whatever will hinder
distractions at that time and is comfortable.
I then begin to think about the words of the song that is playing, how
it lines up with the word of God. I may
pray ‘in my mind’ never speaking out loud unless I’m moved to do so. But, for the most part, I silence my thoughts,
asking God in silence to speak to me however he chooses. I ask him to help me hear what I’ve been to
busy to hear and then soak till I’m sated in the presence of God.
Most of the time I close my eyes but
not every time. I’m not looking for a
feeling, I want to silence my flesh. I
want to spend time in God’s presence where I’m not constantly asking for what I
can get from God. It’s not about money, healing,
or provisions, it’s not about what I can see, taste or touch… etc.…. I just
want to crawl up in His arms and hear His heartbeat till I no longer hear my
own.
For me, this soaking originally
began with a few women of the church coming together for a group prayer but
none of us felt stirred to immediately begin praying so we sat in silence, but
my mind kept going everywhere else. To
corral or to take captive my mind and my thoughts I played some worshipful
songs off my phone and as we were moved under the unction of the Holy Spirit we
vacillated between sitting in silence and praying out loud for issues and
people in the church we didn’t even know about.
There have been times after that where a few ladies and I agreed to go
to the church sanctuary and “do the same thing” for an hour, like that first
time, only to find three and a half hours have passed. I and others have “lost” ourselves as some
might say and it didn’t take long before we started calling it “soaking.” It just seemed the right word to explain what
we experienced. Some were healed, some
walked away with peace, others with God ideas for business, church or personal
issues, some with scriptural understanding but each walked away drenched to the
core with God’s presence. They walked
away changed…. even if it was just the landscape of their minds, the furrows
and ruts of physical, emotional and/or mental habits broken and remolded in His
presence.
I have heard some talk of this as a
new age ‘thing’ that can open you up to bad “things,” such as demonic
influences. Others have tried to say it
comes from eastern mysticism or it is all about feelings and sensations you
get. But that’s not it.
It has never been about sensations
or feelings, at least not for myself. If
you have concerns over this, I’m not going to tell you what to think but I will
say this. Early in my life I was extremely
concerned about hearing the word meditation in the church and it
really bothered me every time I heard it.
It bothered me because I grew up with only one understanding that those who
“meditated”
were involved in New Age religion, eastern religions or cultish and/or mystic
rites and rituals. However, the bible
repeatedly tells us to mediate on God’s word which is to ponder, reflect, think
about and study. I eventually came to
the realization that we make a big mistake when we let the world take away and
re-invent in its own image gifts given to us by God. Meditation on God, His word, His actions, His
demonstrations, is one of those gifts and we should use it with care as
anything can be abused and twisted.
For me, this “soaking” is not an
emptying of my mind but a filling of it with God. It is not about controlling my breathing but
giving up control to the one who gave me breath. It is not about mindlessly floating on a ‘stream
of consciousness’ but mindfully focusing myself on God. I don’t do yoga, burn candles, repeat words,
or empty my mind. I do quiet my heart
and mind so that I can focus on God, on scripture, on what He has done for me,
on hearing from God what I have been too busy to hear.
Whatever you chose to do, a good “soaking”
will do you good. A saturation of your
ground with showers so bountiful they change the landscape of your life and
satisfy your soul is needed. How you get
there is between you and God, but I would begin, music or no music, by quietly
pondering all that God has already done for you, what He has done for others,
what His word says about you and how He sees you. As you reflect like this you will begin to
encourage yourself, to strengthen yourself and find guidance from God as David
did in 1 Samuel chapter 30 when his family and the families of his men were
taken captive.
How God leads you is between
you and God, but it is my hope that you will come back here and tell me your
experience and what God has done for you.
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