Reflection: Pondering the Work of God

In my classes on spiritual formation I will often have students practice a few minutes of silence, meditation on scripture, or reflection. After the exercise I will often ask if anyone fell asleep during those brief moments of stillness when their eyes were closed and they were encouraged to be present and reflect upon the Lord or hear the Lord’s voice. Some admit they were close to falling asleep while a small amount will confess that they actually fell asleep.

So rare is it for us to simply be still and do nothing or to take some time to think or reflect that when we do, either our minds continue forward without the rest of our being or out of sheer exhaustion of running so hard, we may find ourselves nodding off to sleep. Who has time to reflect upon the day, the week, or the month, and think about what God may be doing in our lives or saying to us?

Yet, reflection happens to be an important part of understanding God’s word. According to the late Old Testament scholar Dr. John Hartley, prophecies in the Old Testament often have a formula that encourages reflection after a prophesied event took place. This formula is:

Pre-Word »» Event »» Word

The Pre-Word represents the prophecy about what God was going to do; the Event was the thing itself; and the Word or After-Word was the interpretation of or reflection upon the event.

The Parting of the Red Sea

A great example of this can be seen in Exodus with the parting of the Red Sea. In the book of Exodus, chapter 14, God tells Moses and the Israelites that He was going to rescue them and allow them to pass through the Red Sea as it parted for the Israelites to escape Pharaoh and his army. In that same chapter, Moses successfully parts the Sea, and the Israelites escape by walking through the Sea bed to the other side while Pharaoh and his army drown as the walls of water came crashing back down. God told Moses what He was going to do (pre-word), and He did it (event). What happens next is the interpretation of the event, a song that Moses and the Israelites sang that reflected how their understanding of God had grown in that moment of rescue (word). Here are a couple of verses from that song:

Exodus 15:2

“The Lord is my strength and my defense;
    he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
    my father’s God, and I will exalt him [italics added].”

• God was no longer just the God of their forefathers; He had now become their God.

Exodus 15:11

Who among the gods
    is like you, Lord?
Who is like you—
    majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
    working wonders [italics added]?”

• The children of Israel understood that Egypt’s gods had nothing on Yahweh God, their God.

This act of God endeared the Israelites to Him, for a few moments at least, and solidified His presence with and care for His people. The time they took to reflect, understand, and then rejoice was pivotal to their experience. It helped them to understand the event as more than a random moment, but a miracle by the hand of their God.

Reflection

I think that often we are unaware of what God is doing or saying in our lives because we are living our lives so quickly that we do not stop to pay attention to His movement in our lives. Reflection helps us to slow down and remember God, inviting Him to help us be aware of His presence. Reflection also helps us to understand both who God is and what He is doing in our lives; both what His word says and how it applies to our lives.

How might reflection be incorporated into your daily, weekly, or monthly routine?