We already learned how to meditate and why do we need to meditate on the Scriptures. Despite the fact that for Christians, meditation plays a significant role in Christ-likeness, it is still a forgotten discipline. Some Christians only read the Scriptures thinking that it should be enough. But the Word should not only inform our minds but also influence the heart. This is only possible through Scriptural meditation. Meditation is a lost art today, and Christian people suffer grievously from their ignorance of the practice.
- Question: How can we turn our knowledge about God (informed by the truth) into the knowledge of God (personal knowledge the One who is Truth)?
- Answer: It is that we turn each truth that we learn about God into a matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God.
MEDITATION is the activity of…
- Calling to Mind. Psa 119:11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. This practically means that we need to memorize the Word of God. We cannot call it to mind in times that we need it if we have not stored it in our minds as well.
- Thinking Over. It requires deep thinking and chewing of the Word of God that we have heard or read. This is the highest of all science, we must think of the word over and over again.
- Dwelling On. We must live in the Word of God.
- Joshua 1:8 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.
- Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
- Applying to Oneself. We must not only live in the Word but also live out the Word of God. Ezr 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.
Therefore, meditation is the activity of calling to mind, thinking over, dwelling on, and applying to oneself the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. These are important for true Christians because as Martin Luther once said “whatever consumes our minds is our God.” If God is our God, then it should follow that “thoughts about Him” occupy the first place in our minds and hearts. He is the KING!
“God help us, then, to put our knowledge about God to this use, that we all may in truth ‘know the Lord’ ”
What are the effects of Meditation?
- To humble us, as we contemplate God’s greatness and glory and our own littleness and sinfulness.
- To encourage and reassure us – comfort us, as we contemplate the unsearchable riches of divine mercy displayed in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Questions for meditation:
- Why do you think meditation is a lost art for some Christians today?
- Do you think it’s possible for a Christian to grow in the knowledge of God apart from meditation?
Note: This is from our Youth Bible Study. Citations are from Packer, J. I. (1993). Knowing God. Intervarsity Press.
HERALD OF GRACE COVENANT BIBLE CHURCH OF CAVITE 