Meditation

by L.A. Hickling | Category: General | Jun 1990

Some time ago I was taken to a place where a community of people were engaged in the construction of a great spherical building for the sole purpose of providing a place for meditation; a place where people could go and sit in quietness and meditate.

It made me think of the place that meditation should have in the life of the Christian. In the Old Testament we read of the exploits of David, a man of action; but though he was involved in so much activity, he had time for meditation. We have the benefit of some of his meditations in the book of Psalms.

We live in days of activity when everybody seems to be on the move, and very often there is little time left for quiet meditation. Nevertheless, times of prayer and meditation are essential to the Christian life. Someone has written:

Waiting on God is not wasting today's time;

It is generating tomorrow's power.

There is great scope for meditation on the greatness of the Almighty God of heaven as the Creator of the wonderful things we see around us. The everlasting power and divinity of God are seen in the things that are made, and meditation on them should lead us to praise and worship God as it did David when he exclaimed:

0 LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! (Ps. 8:1).

David also meditated on the law of God and in Psalm 19 he says:

The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple... Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, 0 LORD, my Rock, and my Redeemer (vv. 7,14).

His meditation brought to him soul satisfaction and a spirit of praise and joy. He said:

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 (Ps. 63:5,6).

The man who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates in it will also find that it brings fruitfulness into his life. That was David's experience for he wrote of such a man in psalm 1:

And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that bringeth forth its fruit in its season (v.3). The writer of psalm ll9 was a man like that for he said:

Oh how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day (v.97).

Lack of meditation on the Word of the Lord results in spiritual dryness and a consequent lack of fruitfulness.

John 5:39 tells us that the Scriptures bear witness of the Lord Jesus, so that meditation on them leads to meditation on Him, and surely there is no more soul-warming exercise than that: The writer to the Hebrews calls upon those who are partakers of a heavenly calling to consider "the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus" (3:1). To consider Him is to fix our thoughts upon Him who came as the Apostle to bring God's Word to us, and who has gone back into heaven as High Priest to meet the needs of God's people, May we not neglect to meditate On Him.

With joy we meditate the grace

Of our High Priest above:

His heart is filled with tenderness,

His very name is Love.

L.A. Hickling | Jun 1990
General