“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.” Psalm 77:11,12
“Everyone meditates. Really? Yes. Our minds are constantly dwelling on something. Sadly, many of us allow our minds to wander dangerously into the realm of alluring thoughts, discouraging thoughts, distracting thoughts, worrying thoughts, etc. What we really need is biblical meditation whereby we fix our restless minds on God’s Word so that it governs our lives.” Stephen Yuille, Vice President of Academics at Heritage College & Seminary, Cambridge, Ontario and Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Bro. Yuille goes on to say, “Biblical meditation isn’t merely reading or studying God’s Word but musing and mulling over God’s Word whereby it grips our heart. In other words, its goal isn’t to fill the head but improve the heart.”
Musing and mulling? Too often we come to reading the Bible as either a chore or a sprint. We mindlessly plod through as many verses as we can make ourselves do, without much thought. Or we read through several verses quickly barely paying attention to the words we are reading, let alone the meaning. So, to muse and to mull may sound strange but it simply means thinking about what we are reading and then thinking about how it applies to our lives. Psalms has several references to doing just that, to really thinking about God and all that he has done for us. In reading the Psalms, most of which were written by David, we see the words and thoughts of a man who spent a great deal of time considering life, God, and our whole relationship to him.
We often look on meditation with suspicion but in reality, it is simply a tool. To hear God, we need to quiet all the noise in our own heads. If you’ve ever talked to someone who wouldn’t stop talking so you could get a word in edgewise you may know a little bit of what God feels trying to talk to most of us. We go on and on about our thoughts, say Amen and then we’re done. God is saying “Wait a minute, don’t you want to hear what I have to say?” One of the sure ways to let God speak is to meditate on the Bible. As we read a passage its O.K. to ask ourselves, “What do I think this means?”, but I also need to say a prayer and then be quiet and let God bring to mind thoughts and ideas on His Word.
So, meditation is a tool to quiet our minds and let God have a word in edgewise. Basic practice is very simple. We need to get into a comfortable position, take some deep breaths and focus on a single thought. To meditate on Jesus is to take some teaching or example from Jesus and to muse and mull over it, to quiet our mind of other thoughts and let God speak to us. I will be posting to our Facebook page a recorded lesson on this, and hopefully follow up each week with a new meditation on Jesus. So be looking for that and give it a try even if you don’t think meditation, is your thing.
Don
“Everyone meditates. Really? Yes. Our minds are constantly dwelling on something. Sadly, many of us allow our minds to wander dangerously into the realm of alluring thoughts, discouraging thoughts, distracting thoughts, worrying thoughts, etc. What we really need is biblical meditation whereby we fix our restless minds on God’s Word so that it governs our lives.” Stephen Yuille, Vice President of Academics at Heritage College & Seminary, Cambridge, Ontario and Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Bro. Yuille goes on to say, “Biblical meditation isn’t merely reading or studying God’s Word but musing and mulling over God’s Word whereby it grips our heart. In other words, its goal isn’t to fill the head but improve the heart.”
Musing and mulling? Too often we come to reading the Bible as either a chore or a sprint. We mindlessly plod through as many verses as we can make ourselves do, without much thought. Or we read through several verses quickly barely paying attention to the words we are reading, let alone the meaning. So, to muse and to mull may sound strange but it simply means thinking about what we are reading and then thinking about how it applies to our lives. Psalms has several references to doing just that, to really thinking about God and all that he has done for us. In reading the Psalms, most of which were written by David, we see the words and thoughts of a man who spent a great deal of time considering life, God, and our whole relationship to him.
We often look on meditation with suspicion but in reality, it is simply a tool. To hear God, we need to quiet all the noise in our own heads. If you’ve ever talked to someone who wouldn’t stop talking so you could get a word in edgewise you may know a little bit of what God feels trying to talk to most of us. We go on and on about our thoughts, say Amen and then we’re done. God is saying “Wait a minute, don’t you want to hear what I have to say?” One of the sure ways to let God speak is to meditate on the Bible. As we read a passage its O.K. to ask ourselves, “What do I think this means?”, but I also need to say a prayer and then be quiet and let God bring to mind thoughts and ideas on His Word.
So, meditation is a tool to quiet our minds and let God have a word in edgewise. Basic practice is very simple. We need to get into a comfortable position, take some deep breaths and focus on a single thought. To meditate on Jesus is to take some teaching or example from Jesus and to muse and mull over it, to quiet our mind of other thoughts and let God speak to us. I will be posting to our Facebook page a recorded lesson on this, and hopefully follow up each week with a new meditation on Jesus. So be looking for that and give it a try even if you don’t think meditation, is your thing.
Don
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