One of the greatest joys and privileges our heavenly Father has given to Christians is our ability to spend time meditating on the Scriptures. I know in my own life taking time to slowly read a portion of God’s Word and looking at it from a variety of angles and comparing it with other portions of Scripture helps me to grow deeper in my walk with Jesus. Meditating on God’s Word is kind of like looking at the many brilliant facets of a glistening diamond. Both seem to reflect brilliant light in all directions.
I love how Joseph Hall expresses biblical meditation: “It is not hasty reading, but seriously meditating upon holy and heavenly truths that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee’s touching on the flowers that gathers the honey, but her abiding for a time upon them, and drawing out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most on divine truth, that will prove the choicest, wisest, strongest Christian.”1
The joy of biblical meditation
As an example, let’s try to meditate on (Psalm 119:18): “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.” The first thing that excites me in reading this verse, several times, is that as I get deeper into the Bible, I am guaranteed to find wonderful things to ponder and experience. A second thing I notice is that we need to request God to open up the Scriptures for us so He can illuminate the written word to our hearts. The third thing I find here is that the law of God is precious. And finally, this verse is just one verse of the 176 verses of (Psalm 119); which is full of nuggets of incomparable bliss and delight as one reads these amazing verses. Thus, meditating on this one verse can begin to unlock a treasure-trove of verses that are all designed to help us fall more in love with the Word and its author – Jesus Christ. And this my friends is my greatest joy in life.
The privilege of biblical meditation
And when it comes to meditating on the Scriptures what can be a greater privilege than having the Holy Spirit act as the great illuminator and perfect tour guide to lead you on the most wonderful treasure hunt imaginable. As a second example let’s look at (Psalm 119:148): “My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word.” I believe that the more we spend time meditating on the word, the deeper our love affair with Jesus becomes. I don’t know about you but I eagerly anticipate getting up early in the morning to read the Bible, pray, and to write these devotions. Reading and meditating on the Scriptures is like going on a great treasure hunt with finding nuggets of pure joy as the prize. And the more you meditate on the Scriptures the greater the rewards in terms of finding wisdom, peace, joy, and help in times of trouble.
You will notice that I chose two verses from (Psalm 119) as examples of portions of Scripture to meditate on. I personally believe that (Psalm 119) is the greatest chapter in the Bible to exercise this precious privilege of biblical meditation. In closing, I leave you with three more verses from (Psalm 119) to meditate on. As you savor each verse I guarantee you will, like the psalmist, fall more in love with the Word of God!
(Psalm 119:72): “The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver.”
(Psalm 119:129): “Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore, my soul keeps them.”
(Psalm 119:162): “I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure.”
I agree with you Curt. There’s no greater joy than being able to meditate in God’s Word. When I do that His Word comes alive, guides me, strengthens my faith , refreshes my soul, comforts me, teaches me new things time after time, like a fountain that never dries out. Praise the Lord!
Curt, just want to say I often mean to sit down for an hour or so and catch up on all the unopened newsletters of yours I accumulate. But after just one or two I have the unstoppable desire to go read, study, and appreciate the Bible.