Scriptural Meditation
- Michael E.B. Maher
- Mar 5
- 5 min read
Psalms 119:97-100 “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. (98) You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me. (99) I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. (100) I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts.”
As a child, our Lord Jesus was taught the word of God along with the other children He grew up with, but that is where the similarity ended, for the Lord Jesus did something different with the word He was taught, which resulted in our Lord’s understanding of God’s word, even as a twelve-year-old, astonishing the theological professors of His day (Luke 2:42-47). In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit reveals to us that the reason why our Lord Jesus had more understanding than all His teachers was because the word of God was His constant meditation. And so we see a principle revealed to us through our Lord’s lifestyle, which is that meditation on God’s word produces understanding of His word in our minds. There is a substantial difference between us and the Lord Jesus in this area however, for Jesus never had to renew His mind, whereas we do. Nevertheless the principle is very clear i.e. if the sinless Son of God had to meditate on God’s word day and night so that He could gain understanding of His word, then we are going to have put that same principle into practice if we are going to replace worldly thinking with spiritual thinking.
John 8:31-32 “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. (32) And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Although the Lord gives us the ability to understand the scriptures once we are born-again, it is up to us to spend time in His word so that the Holy Spirit can lead us and guide us into all truth. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Lord tells us that those who abide in His word are the ones who are His disciples. To abide in God’s word means to dwell on it i.e. to constantly think about His word. That practice doesn’t come naturally to believers because our minds our programmed to think as this world thinks, and so it takes discipline on the part of the believer to constantly focus their thoughts on God’s word, which is why the Lord Jesus refers to those believers as His disciples indeed. And so we see that simply reading God’s word is not sufficient to renew one’s mind, although it does help, but rather it is constant meditation in His word that is essential in order for the saint to attain to a renewed mind.
1 Timothy 4:15 “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.”
The context of the above quoted passage of scripture is that the apostle Paul was instructing Timothy to meditate on God’s word. And so we see that the apostle Paul confirms the same truth to us that Jesus taught which is that believers must meditate on God’s word. I want you to notice the outcome of Timothy’s meditation in God’s word i.e. Paul stated that his progress would be evident to all. In other words Timothy’s spiritual growth was directly related to his meditation in God’s word. That same principle is applicable to all believers, i.e. our spiritual growth is directly related to the amount of time we spend meditating (thinking) on God’s word. As believers we have to overcome all of the carnal thinking that we have been exposed to all our lives, and now we have to train our minds to think in line with God’s word and meditation has the effect of changing our thought patterns to line up with the word of God. Ultimately our thought patterns affect our behaviour, which is why Paul stated that those who meditate in God’s word will display clear evidence of progress in their spiritual walk.
Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit clearly teaches us what we are to think about (meditate on), which is ultimately the word of God, for it is really only God’s word that meets all of the requirements in this passage of scripture. When one mediates on God’s word the believer takes a passage of scripture and begins to think about just that passage. As the believer does that the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to the saint exactly what God is saying in that scripture and He thus opens the saints understanding to God’s word. Clearly God expects the believer to give themselves wholly to thinking in line with His word, and so the believer is expected to judge their thought life and bring it in line with God’s word at all times.
Romans 8:5-6 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us to set our minds on the things of the Spirit. To set your mind on something is to constantly meditate on that thing. And so we see that spiritual believers, i.e. those who are spiritually minded constantly meditate on God’s word even as our Lord Jesus did. Therefore the point remains that the more we meditate on God’s word the more of His word we will understand, and the more of God’s word that we understand, the more of His word that will sink down into our spirits thus causing our spirits to grow stronger. The principle is very clear that if we are going to grow spiritually we are going to have to set time aside to meditate on God’s word, for our spirits will never grow beyond the degree to which our minds have been renewed. In other words we cannot have a strong spirit and at the same time a mind that is not renewed to the word of God, for the two always go hand in hand, and the reason for that is because the word of God enters our spirits through our minds.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments