Meditation. I was surprised to hear one of my Biblical Counseling professors say that meditation was one of the most important components of a believer's life. Honestly, I hadn't thought about meditation in conjunction with my life as a believer. Transcendental Meditation was a big deal in the 60s and 70s and for that reason I had always assumed that meditation and recreational drugs were companions. It had not occurred to me that meditation and faith in Christ should be partnered.
I certainly don't want to give you the impression that I don't think. I have always been an advocate of thinking and don't believe faith in Christ means checking your brain at the door. Meditation implies more than just thinking though. It is bigger than thinking through a problem or puzzling something through. Meditation means actually setting aside time to ponder a subject below the surface. It is extended contemplation and reflection rolled together and it is intentional.
My last post was about the value of the Word of God in the Woman of God. If my professor is correct, and I believe he is, meditation on the Word is a necessary element to living the Word. If we are going to be Titus 2 women, we must be living the Word. In some ways, this is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. What's not to understand about don't do this, do this instead? Love God, don't lie, don't steal, love your neighbor... it's hard to do but easy to understand. Yet, if we are content to live a formulaic spiritual life, we are consigning ourselves at best to mediocrity. At worst we have built a dead faith upon works and are relying on our own ability to do what is right.
Meditating on God's Word helps us to connect the dots. It awakens the awe factor so that we are not living and acting in mechanical routine. It will render us speechless and cause us to fall hopeful before Him. Seeing His wisdom. Discovering His perfection. Savoring and exploring His manifold blessings and the magnitude of His love can only be accomplished by quiet contemplation. Drawing deeply and pensively from His Word sustains our souls. It lets us sink our roots down firmly where the water is, the Living Water.
Psalm 1
1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.
3 And he will be like a tree {firmly} planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
(NAS)
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