A Primer On Biblical Meditation

When you truly delight (take great pleasure in or experience a high degree of satisfaction) in the Word, you will have a desire (a craving, a longing , a "hunger or thirst") to spend time in it and to meditate on it. Beloved, we do not naturally delight in the Holy Word for we are by nature unholy. Therefore when any man or woman begins to delight in the Word, they can know for certain that they are experiencing God's amazing grace (cp Php 2:13-note wherein we see that the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to delight and the dynamic to understand God's Holy Word! cp 1Cor 2:11-13. In expectant humility, always ask Him to illuminate His supernatural Word which is otherwise unintelligible to the natural mind!)

May the Father daily grant us His grace sufficient to prompt us to desire to delight in Him and to devour His Word for the sake of His Name, through Christ Jesus, the Living Word of God. Amen. (Compare [meditate upon] the prayer for literal food "Give us this day our daily bread" Mt 6:11-note with the words of Jesus in Mt 4:4 quoting Dt 8:3 - read the context Dt 8:1-3 - Notice what God's powerful purpose was in these passages! Does He have you in a humbling circumstance today? Don't try to wiggle out! Instead yield yourself like a lump of clay and allow the Potter to mold you into the image of His Son. This calls for daily death to self and daily taking up of the Cross [which also bespeaks of death!] If your Christian life is dry, dull, distant then may I suggest that you stop dutifully "trying" and start daily "dying" so that His Spirit might live through you more fully and practically. Meditate on Deut 8:1-3.)

In the following verses from Psalm 119, observe the association between delight and meditation.

15 I will meditate on Thy precepts, and regard Thy ways. (note)

16 I shall delight in Thy statutes; I shall not forget Thy word. (note)

23 Even though princes sit and talk against me, Thy servant meditates on Thy statutes. (note)

24 Thy testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors. (note)

47 And I shall delight in Thy commandments, which I love (which is why he delights!). (note)

48 And I shall lift up my hands to Thy commandments, which I love; and I will meditate on Thy statutes. (note) (Apply: Do I love His Word like the psalmist?)

77 May Thy compassion come to me that I may live, for Thy law is my delight. (note)

78 May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; but I shall meditate on Thy precepts. (note)

If God's Word is not the desire and delight of your heart, plead with Him until He grants your request (1Th 5:17-note) so that your soul might cultivate an appetite for the pure milk of His Word (1Pe 2:2-note). If you pray this with clean hands and a pure heart (Ps 24:4-note), you can be assured God will answer it affirmatively for it is in accordance with His good and perfect will (1Jn 5:14, 15, cp Mt 7:7-note). Will you dare to pray this prayer? Will you dare not pray this prayer!

Meditation is not giving free rein to your imagination, nor is it reading your Bible for beautiful thoughts. Meditation is a discipline. -J. I. Packer

Meditation is the bellows of the affections. -Thomas Watson (Bellows = An instrument, utensil or machine for blowing fire. Bellows are used to make the refiners fires burn fiercely - cp Jer 6:29)

What made Charles Haddon Spurgeon such a powerful, Spirit anointed preacher of the Word? There are probably many answers to this question, but the following quote from Spurgeon suggests one of his "secrets"

I quarry out the Truth when I read, but I smelt the ore and get the pure gold out of it when I meditate! For lack of meditation the Truth of God runs by us and we miss and lose it. Our treacherous memory is like a sieveand what we hear and what we read runs through it and leaves but little behindand that little is often unprofitable to us by reason of our lack of diligence to get thoroughly at it. I often find it very profitable to get a text as a sweet morsel under my tongue in the morning and to keep the flavor of it, if I can, in my mouth all day!How to Read the Bible - #3318

It is an admirable plan to fix your thoughts upon some text of Scripture before you leave your bedroom in the morningit will sweeten your meditation all the day.Loving the Law of the Lord - #3090 on Ps 119:97-100

The inward meditation [of Gods Word] is the thing that makes the soul rich towards God. This is the godly mans occupation. Put the spice into the mortar by reading, beat it with the pestle of meditationso shall the sweet perfume be exhaled.The Truly Blessed Man - #3270

Read the Bible carefully, and then meditate and meditate and meditate. - C H Spurgeon

So we must, by meditation, tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the wine of consolation there from. - C H Spurgeon

A PRIMER ON MEDITATION

M. A. Rosanoff, long associated with Thomas Edison, had worked futilely for over a year to soften the wax of phonograph cylinders by altering their chemical constitution. The results were negative. Rosanoff relates how he mused night after night trying to "mentally cough up" every theoretical and practical solution.

"Then it came like a flash of lightning. I could not shut waxes out of my mind, even in my sleep. Suddenly, through headache and daze. I saw the solution."

"The first thing the next morning, I was at my desk and half an hour later I had a record in the softened wax cylinder this was the solution! I learned to think waxes waxes waxes, and the solution came without effort although months of thought had gone into the mental mill."

Rosanoff learned to think waxes. It was like unrolling a ball of string out of the unknown and night after night pulling it toward his mind, not knowing what might be attached to the other end of every thought or concept. Meditation is the art of hauling in that ball of mental thread.

This is a generation of hustle and bustle. "Time out" for anything except sleep and medical checkups is considered idling your motor when you ought to be in high gear. Reflection and deep thought in a quiet place is a thing of the past. This idea of taking time to be holy is more often a song we sing than an accomplishment. It takes time to be holy. It takes lots of time to be truly effective for God. Each of us needs time to think waxes -- this was Rosanoff's secret. He daily gave his problem a second thought. It is a mistaken idea that meditation is only for those who have time for it -- daydreamers, scientists, novelists, ascetics and cloistered saints of religion. Giving life a second thought is the need of every man.

"Meditation is the skeleton key that unlocks the greatest storeroom in the house of God's provisions for the Christian."

The men who carry this key upon the chain of their daily life come into a knowledge and relationship that the "activist" and the restless ones have never known. With the solitude of the meditation room, there is produced a quality of life that must be standard equipment for all the Master's men.

"Now come along to some quiet place by yourself and rest for a little while" (Mk 6:31 Phillips Translation).

WHAT IS MEDITATION?

A. T. Pierson -"Meditation is simply thought prolonged and directed to a single object. Your mystic chambers where thoughts abide are the secret workshop of an unseen Sculptor chiseling living forms for a deathless future. Personality and influence are modeled here. Hence, the biblical injunction: 'Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life'"

J. I. Packer says that meditation is the practice of turning each truth we learn about God into matter for reflection before God, leading to prayer and praise to God.

Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God. (Packer, J I: Knowing God)

Saturation with the Scriptures is the Secret to Satisfaction of our Souls

The Puritan writer Thomas Brooks offers an excellent description of Biblical meditation

Remember that it is not hasty readingbut serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, which makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee which gathers honey (cp Ps 19:10-note; Ps 119:103-note)but her abiding for a time on the flower which draws out the sweet. It is not he who reads most, but he who meditates mostwho will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian."

Meditation is CHEWING. Meditation is aptly depicted by the cow's process of mastication (chewing). God has so constructed bovines to bring up previously digested food for additional grinding to enable optimal assimilation of the "cud." Meditation is pondering and reviewing various thoughts (especially the thoughts/words of God) by mulling them over in one's mind and heart (our "control center" so to speak - see Pr 4:23-note). Meditation is the processing of God's food for our soul (real "soul food!) One might call it "divine thought digestion." "Chewing" upon a divine thought, deliberately and diligently, a process which (enabled by the Spirit our "Sanctifier") provides the vital link between theory and action, between God's Word on paper and God's Word in our life. What mastication is to the physical life of the cow, meditation is to the spiritual life of those created in the image of God. C H Spurgeon asks a good question

Have you a spiritual taste, dear Hearer? It is one thing to hear the Word. It is another thing to taste it. Hearing the Word is often blessed, but tasting it is a more inward and spiritual thingit is the enjoyment of the Truth in the innermost parts of our being! Oh, that we were all as fond of the Word as were the old mystics who chewed the cud of meditation till they were fattened upon the Word of the Lord and their souls grew strong in the Divine Love! I am sure of thisthe more you know of Gods Word, the more you will love it!The True Sayings of God - #3144

Meditation is ANALYZING. Literally analyzing describes the art of taking an intentional, lengthy look at a given object as the jeweler does when he puts his eyepiece on to examine the character and qualities of a flawless diamond. Indeed, "The words of the LORD are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times." (Ps 12:6-note) Meditation on the living and active (energetic) Word (Heb 4:12-note) is like gazing at a prism, which breaks a single beam of sunlight into many component colors. As we take time to steadily focus on the "diamond" of God's Word, the Spirit illumines the Son's light in His many and variegated "colors and hues."

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law (Psalm 119:18). (Spurgeon's comment)

Meditation is ACTION. Someone has described it: "Making words into thoughts and thoughts into actions." It is mental planning ahead with definite action in mind for accomplishing a job. Andrew Murray describes it: "Holding the Word of God in your heart until it has affected every phase of your life this is meditation."

Now tie these three thoughts together: chewing, analyzing and action. Reflect on each of them now before reading any further. Give God time for divine polishing in His secret place in order to more effectually reproduce His glory and beauty in public.

MEDITATION: NOT WITHOUT DIFFICULTIES

"Muse" was the name given to an ancient Greek god who spent much time in solitude and thinking. The statue of "The Thinker" is the artistic concept of deep concentration and absorption. Add an "a" to the beginning of "muse" and you have: "amuse" -- sports, games, television and a score of other tools used by the enemy to keep God's men from concentrating on man's God.

Dawson Trotman illustrated Biblical meditation by comparing the way cows get the cud on which they chew

A cow eats grass as it grazes early in the morning. When the sun gets hot, it will lie in the shade of a tree, and through the use of a unique elevator system it will bring up the grass from one stomach and thoroughly masticate it. When this is finished, it will put it into another stomach, having gotten from it everything possible in the way of nutrients.

Beware of getting alone with your own thoughts. Get alone with God's thoughts. There is danger in rummaging through waste and barren desert-thoughts that can be labeled -- daydreaming or worse. Don't meditate upon yourself but dwell upon Him -- seek God in your inner thought life. There is always danger in meditating upon problems. Develop the habit of reflection upon the Word of God and therein find the answers to your problems.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips: When I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches" (Psalm 63:5-6).

Regarding Psalm 63, Spurgeon wrote (Note verse 5; verse 6) that

Lying awake, the good man betook himself to meditation, and then began to sing. He had a feast in the night, and a song in the night. He turned his bedchamber into an oratory, he consecrated his pillow, his praise anticipated the place of which it is written, "There is no night there." Perhaps the wilderness helped to keep him awake, and if so, all the ages are debtors to it for this delightful hymn. If day's cares tempt us to forget God, it is well that night's quiet should lead us to remember him. We see best in the dark if we there see God best.

And meditate on thee in the night watches. Keeping up sacred worship in my heart as the priests and Levites celebrated it in the sanctuary. Perhaps David had formerly united with those "who by night stand in the house of the Lord," and now as he could not be with them in person, he remembers the hours as they pass, and unites with the choristers in spirit, blessing Jehovah as they did. It may be, moreover, that the king heard the voices of the sentries as they relieved guard, and each time he returned with renewed solemnity to his meditations upon his God. Night is congenial, in its silence and darkness, to a soul which would forget the world, and rise into a higher sphere. Absorption in the most hallowed of all themes makes watches, which else would be weary, glide away all too rapidly; it causes the lonely and hard couch to yield the most delightful repose -- repose more restful than even sleep itself. We read of beds of ivory, but beds of piety are better far. Some revel in the night, but they are not a tithe so happy as those who meditate in God.

SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO MEDITATE

Related Resource: See Watson's Treatise on Meditation for much greater detail

Let's get started. Since we want to make this a built-in habit of daily living, start with a moment of prayer. Ask God's help in concentration, alertness of mind and that inward sense of His abiding Presence. As a means of getting under way, here are five suggestions that will make the following Bible verse extremely practical:

"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My Name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." (Jn 16:24)

(1). Emphasize:

One of the most helpful approaches in meditation is to emphasize different words within the verse. As you throw them out vocally, the Holy Spirit will echo them back to your heart through your ears and mind. Read the first phrase aloud several times with striking emphasis upon the word in caps:

HITHERTO have ye asked nothing in My Name.

Hitherto have YE asked nothing in My Name.

Hitherto have ye asked NOTHING in My Name.

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in MY NAME.

(2). Paraphrase:

Put this verse from the King James Version into your own words. Say it over and over, silently and aloud, until you can communicate it back to yourself in language that has meaning. Reflect slowly. Don't be in a hurry to reword it -- rearrange the words and use your dictionary to look up words you don't understand. Perhaps you will end up with something like this:

"Up to this moment you have not been asking anything in God's authority; go ahead and ask, see if God doesn't love to answer. This is because He wants you to be full of cheerfulness."

(3). Ask Questions:

Now that you have taken it apart and have paraphrased it so it is your very own, start asking questions. Use the ones the newspaper reporter starts with: who? what? where? when? why? and how? (See discussion of this interrogative mindset under Inductive Study) Here's how it works on John 16:24.

Who is Jesus talking to?

What is He saying? What does He say I should do?

Where should I pray? Where have I failed in my praying?

When should I ask? When is my joy full and complete?

Why does God say I should pray?

How should I go about asking?

Every question is not equally productive, but by asking such questions, your mind will be focused on the Word of God -- this is the beginning of meditation. When you start asking questions, you start to dissect. Not questions that just bring up facts and doctrine but also heart-feeding application. Questions and answers to the above put the Scriptures into the bloodstream of your soul.

(4). Application:

Apply Jn 16:24 immediately. 2Ti 3:16, 17 (see notes) says that all Scripture is profitable in a four-fold function: it is useful in teaching the faith, for correcting error, for resetting the direction of man's life and for training him in good living. Tackle John 16:24 once again from these four angles: (Click here for Application in Inductive Bible Study)

a. Is there some truth I should know from this verse?

b. Is there something I should stop doing in light of this verse?

c. Is there a practice in my life I should change?

d. Is there a habit I ought to begin?

(5). Persistence:

A "verse a day" can be selected during your quiet time in the morning. To begin with, it can be done within ten minutes. Try analyzing, dissecting and chewing over such a verse during odd moments of your day -- walking to work, riding the train or bus, waiting for meals or "killing time" for that appointment. Apply it that very day. Perhaps you will have the opportunity to share it with someone else. [A workable plan for busy people desiring a daily morning time with God has been written in a little brochure - for this booklet click Seven Minutes With God. As a practical exercise click and meditate on all 23 uses of "meditate" in OT. Make a list of what you learn about meditating on meditation! Then "Selah" which indicates a pause, which also implies meditation. See the 74 uses of "Selah" in the Psalms.)

TRANSFORMATION ( Ro 12:2- see note)

The crown fruit of meditation is the changed life. Without the transformed life, meditation is of little eternal value. This was the problem Jesus had with the Pharisees of His day. They knew the facts and were experts in doctrine. They were conscientious, sincere and dedicated. But the Lord called them sons of Satan -- "Ye are of your father the devil." Why this stinging indictment? Because for all their study of the Old Testament, there was no change in their lives. As D L Moody said "Every Bible should be bound in shoe leather," alluding to the importance of applying the truth we learn to our lives. These religious hypocrites continued to oppress the poor, defraud the widows and pursue doubtful business practices! In a word no repentance which signified they had no regeneration.

Beware of meditation that ends in pious words without pious practices (cf Jas 1:22-note). True meditation fuels God honoring moral actions. A changed attitude toward God and fellow man should be the result, including things like a changed work habit, a changed relationship to one's spouse or family, in short -- a changed life! Anything less means your "meditation" is little more than "pious platitudes" as they say.

"O how I love Thy law: it is my meditation all the day" (Ps 119:97-note)

Comment: This verse is very practical and very convicting for we all understand that if you truly love someone, you will want to spend time with them! And this thought in turn reminds us of Colossian 3:16-note where Paul instructs the saints at Colossae to let the Word of Christ richly dwell within them. The key word is dwell (enoikeo) which means to take up residence or make one's home, giving us a great word picture of believers being at home with the Word of Christ, living in it! Does that describe you beloved disciple of Christ?

Spurgeon's Comment regarding the phrase it is my meditation all the day "This was both the effect of his love and the cause of it. He meditated in God's word because he loved it, and then loved it the more because he meditated in it. He could not have enough of it, so ardently did he love it: all the day was not too long for his converse with it. His main prayer, his noonday thought, his evensong were all out of Holy Writ; yea, in his worldly business he still kept his mind saturated with the law of the Lord. It is said of some men that the more you know them the less you admire them; but the reverse is true of God's word. Familiarity with the word of God breeds affection, and affection seeks yet greater familiarity. When "thy law," and "my meditation" are together all the day, the day grows holy, devout, and happy, and the heart lives with God."

Bring the fruit of your meditation and offer it to the Lord for His blessing. Ask the Holy Spirit to apply the Word to your heart and enable you to live today in conformity to it.

Let the words of my mouth, And the meditation of my heart, Be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, My strength, and my Redeemer Psalm 19:14-note

Spurgeon commenting on Psalm 19:14 said that this verse is "A sweet prayer, and so spiritual that it is almost as commonly used in Christian worship as the apostolic benediction. Words of the mouth are mockery if the heart does not meditate; the shell is nothing without the kernel; but both together are useless unless accepted; and even if accepted by man, it is all vanity if not acceptable in the sight of God. We must in prayer view Jehovah as our strength enabling, and our Redeemer saving, or we shall not pray aright, and it is well to feel our personal interest so as to use the word my, or our prayers will be hindered. Our near Kinsman's name, our Goel or Redeemer, makes a blessed ending to the Psalm; it began with the heavens, but it ends with him whose glory fills heaven and earth. Blessed Kinsman, give us now to meditate acceptably upon thy most sweet love and tenderness."

THE ART OF MEDITATION George Mylne

(From "Lessons for the Christian's Daily Walk" 1859)

"So I applied my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things." Ecclesiastes 7:25

We live in stirring days, when deeds are everything--when closet work is often neglected for active business, and little time is given to meditation. Yet, with more thought and prayer--wholesome activity would be greater in the end, and all our actions more successful. Time is not lost, which is spent in meditation--in searching wisdom's ways, and seeking out profound realities. There is one who often meditates--and yet accomplishes much. There is another who hastens--and yet does little.

None works so heartily, nor reaps so fully-- as he whose wits are sharpened by prayer and meditation.

Reading either Scripture or Christian books, apart from meditation, does little good. It is much the same as not digesting what you eat--this only starves the soul. How many read the Bible thus!

The art of meditation may be learned by dint of effort.

You say, "I am quite unused to meditate. How shall I begin?" Deal gently with yourself at first. Select your subject--some passage from the Word. Then fix the time you choose to give; say, five minutes at a time. Begin, and think aloud. This makes it easier, and saves the mind from distracted thoughts, the hardest task of all. The sound even of your own voice will help you; it is like speaking to a friend. And what is meditation, but communing with self (Ed: And with God through His Word)--that self may be a constant hearer.

But, more than all, make it a time of prayer--of communing with God. This helps the matter greatly. Take the words of Scripture--and ask Jesus what they mean. In doing this, the mind is exercised. A glow of thought attends the effort. You honor Jesus; and He will honor you, by pouring out a largeness of capacity--a quicker mind. The interchange of thought between you and Jesus goes on apace, and you are surprised to find how long the exercise has lasted.

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A Primer On Biblical Meditation | Precept Austin