Meditate On God's Word

MEDITATE ON GOD’S WORD

How many times have you read the Bible, closed it, and then not been able to remember anything you just read? To benefit from your time in God’s Word you must think about what it says. The official term for this act of thinking is meditation. If you want to truly know God through his Word you must meditate on it. Don Whitney defines meditation as “deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture for the purposes of understanding, application, and prayer.”[1] Psalm 1:2 says that the person who delights in the law of the Lord meditates on it day and night. That doesn’t mean you must spend all your time sitting on the floor with your legs crossed, eyes closed, rocking back and forth in a trance. Rather, it means that you think about God’s Word as you go about your daily routine. In other words, you don’t forget about his Word as you live your life.

Unless you have a photographic memory you won’t be able to meditate on everything you read in the Bible. You will do well if you can recall one or two things and make them the focus of your concentration. As you read and study the Word look for something that stands out—a promise to claim, a command to obey, an attribute of God to embrace, a prayer to pray, a sin to forsake, etc. Hone in on that and stew on it throughout the day. Treat it like you would a car you are considering buying. Most likely before you buy a car you look it over for dents and scratches. You kick the tires. You look under the hood. You look underneath to see if it’s leaking any fluids. You drive it. You turn on the radio as well as the air and the heat. In short, you are meditating about the car and whether it would be a good purchase for you. Likewise, nothing will do more to get the Word of God into your life than meditation.

Sometimes you may need to meditate for days or even weeks on a particular verse or passage. God doesn’t transform you overnight. He does it over time, mostly as you contemplate his Word and let it change the way you think, speak, and act.

So here’s a suggestion. Find a verse or a short passage that addresses a challenge you have in your life: worry, anger, bitterness, depression, greed, lust, jealousy, fear, guilt, impatience, etc. Write the text on a piece of paper and put it on your refrigerator with a magnet. Put it right next to the handle so you can’t keep from seeing it every time you open the refrigerator door. Then be sure to read it each time you open the refrigerator over the next couple of weeks or so. Just stand there a few moments and take in the text. As the days go by you will find that the text will slowly begin to drive out erroneous thinking and replace it with correct thinking. Over time your speech and actions will change as well. It’s not a magic bullet, but give it a try and I am confident God will use his Word to transform your life.