(Biblical) Meditation

The following is based on my notes from Dr. Whitney's lecture on "Biblical Meditation" delivered Feb. 11, 2011:

Bible intake and prayer are the two most important spiritual disciplines (SDs) we can commit ourselves to. Bible intake takes precedence over prayer because hearing from God is more important than God hearing from us. These are the foundational SDs upon which all the others build.

When it comes to Bible intake there are many ways by which we may take in God's inspired words. They include studying, reading, hearing, memorizing, meditating, and applying. The practice of meditation has been largely ignored in the church though, as Dr. Whitney argued, this practice is the most important form of intake. We neglect this to our own spiritual demise as I hope to show from my notes. Biblical meditation is the most pressing need in our devotional lives.

Due to our lack of commitment to this biblical practice many are alien even to the concept outside of pagan and worldly contexts. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, many unbiblical notions enter people's minds when this word is mentioned. At this point a clarification between worldly and biblical meditation is necessary. First, worldly meditation calls for the emptying of one’s mind while biblical meditation calls for the filling of the mind. Second, worldly meditation calls for mental passivity. Biblical meditation calls for mental activity. Lastly, worldly meditation seeks to create a new reality through visualization. Biblical meditation reflects on reality as it is and how God has designed the world. Dr. Whitney gave this definition:

Meditation is deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture, or upon life from a scriptural perspective, for the purpose of understanding, application, and prayer.

The most basic form of Scripture intake is reading God's word, which is foundational to meditation. Reading alone, though important, falls short of fulfilling Scripture’s purpose. Most would admit that it is difficult to remember much of their reading just minutes after. Some blame their old age or bad retention skills for the problem but they're wrong. The problem is simple and so is the solution. The problem is the method not the man. How can anyone expect to remember much after reading straight through a chapter of 66 verses and immediately carrying on with the day? We don't remember because we do not meditate on what we've read. We read through our daily reading plan if we have one and shut the book. As stated previously, this is the most pressing need of our devotional lives, yet it is the most infrequently practiced. I hope this blog will encourage you to meditate on Scripture by showing you the biblical mandate for it and its benefits.

Imagine you have a tea bag and a hot cup of water. You take the tea bag and dip it in the water once. What will happen is not a drastic change to the color and flavor of the water but there will be some change. Repeated dips will lead to a darkening of the water and a strengthening of the flavor, but still the desired effect is not there. These individual dips could be likened to the reading, hearing, studying, application, and memorization of God’s word. If you are familiar with making tea, you know that to bring about this effect you must rest the tea bag in the water and let it soak there for an extended period of time. Eventually the water will be dark and full of flavor. This is the effect of meditation on the soul of the believer. We must “soak” in our souls in his Word, not simply dip it. Through this we will encounter God in a much deeper way as evidenced in the analogy. The longer you soak the tea bag the stronger the flavor will be. As we meditate on his Word we will begin to feel it more deeply in our lives. We feel most deeply about that which we think most deeply. These are the things that move us. Only through meditation will lasting change come about in our lives conforming us to the character of Jesus Christ.

Let us now consider the ample biblical evidence and mandate for this practice.

Joshua 1:8 says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” After the death of Moses, Joshua was chosen to succeed him and take on the duties as leader of the Israelites. He had a great deal of responsibility but the LORD commanded him to meditate on the law “day and night.” How was he supposed to fulfill all of his duties and God’s command at the same time? He had to meditate as carried out daily tasks. Carrying around a copy of the Law would be a bit cumbersome and surely impractical. As we learn of Ezra, Joshua too, had to “set his heart to study the Law of the LORD” (Ezra 7:10). There was a purpose behind this command also. This meditation was so that he would “be careful to do according to all that is written in it.” Obedience flows out of meditation. Many people are concerned with receiving God’s blessing and rightfully know that obedience brings blessing. God loves to bless obedience to his commands and Law for it reflects our conformity to his son. But what most do not consider is what makes us more obedient. This text reveals that answer: meditation! This begs the question, “Why aren’t we practicing this?” Meditation leads to obedience and obedience leads to blessing. It’s simple, right?

Another text is Psalm 1:1-3. The psalmist writes, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” The key verse here is verse 2. The righteous man delights in God’s law and thus meditates on it day and night. More could be said on delighting in the law but for our purposes we will focus on the aspect of meditation. As with Joshua 1:8, there is a cause and effect relationship involved with meditation. Verse 3 provides the effect of meditation. Here the righteous man is compared to a tree, but not just any tree. He is a tree “firmly planted” by water providing life and sustenance to him thus yielding much fruit. God’s word is life; it is life in the eternal logos, the Word that was with God in the beginning (John 1:2). This life is in the Son. Meditation on this Word solidifies us upon the chief cornerstone. If God’s Word is life, we should make it a priority to meditate and dwell on it as often as we may. This will bring fruit to our lives and to our ministries.

I’ll close with another illustration that Dr. Whitney gave. We might liken meditation to fire. If someone is cold from being outside on a snowy winter’s day they will surely want to be warmed by a fire upon entering the house. But say that person comes in and merely passes by the fire expecting to get warm. You would tell that person they must stand or sit by the fire for a while in order to get warm. So it is with meditation. A cold heart will not be warmed and enlightened to the Gospel by passing by the Word of God. It must sit in front of it and let its “heat” warm their soul. Meditation on God’s word reveals sin in our life and leads us to repent of it because as a fire brings light and heat so does Scripture. The light of Scripture reveals it and the heat drives us to flee it. Our sin usually results in a lack of heat, not light. We know that it is wrong, but we lack the heat to do what is right. Meditation burns God’s word deep in our souls as we dwell on it for an extended period of time. Sit by the fire of God’s Word. Let its light guide you and its heat empower you.