SOAP - What it is and why you should use it every day!

During our recent series on Prayer Martin Webber re-introduced me to an old theologian I had almost forgotten – Origen. He lived in Alexandria, Egypt (ca. 185–ca. 254) and was without doubt one of the greatest Christian thinkers of his time.
The reason Martin and I mention him now is due to a way to pray and read the Bible that he developed called “lectio divina”. It is a simple way of praying with Scripture that calls one to study, ponder, listen and, finally, pray from God's Word.[1]

And we all need that.

The Psalmist says, “Open my eyes that I might see the wonderful things in your Law” (Psalm 119:18). God’s word is essential. Ephesians 1:18 shows the importance of prayer: it is necessary for our enlightenment. So, in order to understand and delight in the Word of God, and to be changed from the inside, we not only need to spend time seeing “the wonderful things” in God’s Law, but we also need to pray. Praying and reading have to go together and Origen’s method helps us to do both. Don’t fall for the idea that if you read a lot you won’t need to pray. And please don’t fall for the trap of praying a lot, allowing your mind to coast along thinking that you will somehow grow in understanding. Eastern meditation says empty your mind to be enlightened. Biblical meditation says fill it with the word of God! Joshua 1:8 famously says, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” See how the word of God and the thoughts of our hearts are paired together? And the blessed man’s delight in Psalm 1 “is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2).

So pray and read! What a privilege! And what an obligation! Praying cannot replace reading and reading without praying will end up making us arrogant.

How can we read and pray?

Well one modern version of Origen’s lectio divina is S.O.A.P. It works in this way:
S – stands for Scripture. Each day a passage of the Bible is set out for you to read. Read it daily.
O – stands for Observation. Here’s where it is good to reflect on the words you have read; to meditate on what God is saying and doing in the passage. Look at the passage and ask how this applied to the original hearers and how it might be applied to you today. If it helps jot down some thoughts.
A – is for Application. Ask yourself, “is there something here I need to adopt, some patterns of living I need to modify, or even a matter I need to repent of?
P – is for Prayer. Now bring this to God. Can I even suggest that you use the words of the passage to express the thoughts of your heart? Scripture gives us great patterns and models for our prayers and one of Origen’s great legacies to us is the practice of praying scripture.

My hope is that scriptures you discover, observations you make and applications you think necessary will also be things you can share with others. It would be good to use SOAP with someone else.

We will be putting suggested readings on the weekly leaflets at our meetings and also on the Church web page.

I hope that SOAP will provide the beautiful aroma God delights in!

Chris Edwards.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectio_divina