Dwelling in the Lord
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Opening
Opening
Good Morning! As we close our series on prayer, I thought it would be useful for us to to look at something that has somewhat become taboo in Christian circles........ and that is the art of meditation.
I can sense the raised eyebrows, concerned looks and maybe even a proclamation of, “He’s lost it.”
Understandable. But bare with me. What I need you to do this morning is to take any preconceived ideas of what the world has made of mediation and chuck those.
I guess the best way for me to open our time is to talk about what Christian meditation IS NOT. I’m gonna share 4, but the list could definitely go on.
IT IS NOT.....
1. Yoga- You may enjoy yoga. I’m not knocking the physical aspect of yoga. BUT, if you are doing it for the meditative experience to gain some spiritual insight, you barking up the wrong tree.
2. TM(Transcendental Meditation)- The art of silently sitting with eyes closed as you clear the mind and reach a point of peace and own awareness referred to as pure consciousness. I’ll tell you the last thing we need when sitting and reflecting is more of ourselves.
3. New Age Movement- Many of you may remember the beginning of the new age movement. A new age of love and light. A foretaste of what was to come as people “transformed” themselves and “healed”.
4. Nature- It is not about becoming one with nature. Nature in and of itself has no sustaining characteristics because everything about nature points back to a Creator.
It’s because of most of these are view and understanding of meditation has been skewed and instead of engaging in it biblically, the church has all but thrown out the idea of meditation.
Here’s the thing though. Meditation is not only mentioned in scripture, its commanded by God and even modeled by the Godly.
King David declares in Psalm 119
15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
The difference we will see is meditation for Christians has an incredibly different objective. Since most wordly forms has the individual reflection on nothing or on themselves or clearing the mind. Meditation from scripture involves filling your mind… with God and His truths.
For our most basic definition of what this means- it is simply to deeply dwell on the things of God. And in more deeply dwelling on Him we can more properly prepare ourselves for prayer. As scripture fuels our meditation, meditation can fuel our prayer.
And I think we can hardly argue with that being a bad thing.
Today, as we look at our passage in Psalm 46 it is very fitting for us. The whole tone of this Psalm points out to us that it was certainly composed during a time of great crisis. So, its declaration of such immense faith and trust in God amidst such crisis should be impressive but also more…comforting, encouraging and maybe even convicting.
Read Psalm 46
Pray
Our only source of strength and refuge is God.
Our only source of strength and refuge is God.
Verses- 1-3
As we dive into this Psalm the first verse should actually be enough. It says it all..... Our full security is found in God…only God....nothing else.
He is our refuge........ This is coming from a place of defense. Our world is against us. Sin is against us. God is our shelter. But He is also our strength. He empowers us....the weak for action.
The end of verse one points that out to us. “A very present help in trouble.”
God is our conqueror though. We see that here. Because of Him we do not fear the end of anything.
Even if the earth gives way. Even if the mountains are moved into the sea. Even if we are faced with catastrophic things in this world we are to fear not.
Do we forget who placed the things in this world where they are?
22 Do you not fear me? declares the Lord. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
Who do we think is in control here? Don’t forget for a moment that the Lord is still seated on His throne and that He is still fully in control. I don’t care what is happening in this world. Whether natural disaster, actions of man or some virus....we serve a God who is completely sovereign.
5 He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. 6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. 8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. 9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
Do not lose sight for one second about who is in control.
......Meditation is something that brings about FOCUS for us. When we are focusing on what God is, the reality of our existence and mission is clear. We fear nothing this world throws at us........we take refuge and strength i Him because He has conquered this world.
We must be drawing nearer and nearer to Him. He must be our refuge, especially in times such as these so that He may strengthen us to continue shout out the name of the Lord to those around us.
God is with us in all circumstances and is worthy to be praised.
God is with us in all circumstances and is worthy to be praised.
Verses- 4-7
1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. 2 Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. 3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. 4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. 5 For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. 6 The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.”
We are seeing this beautiful image of the people of God as we draw near to Him, praising Him and being joyful because of Him.
1 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain,
This city of God, is His people. And we see He is in the midst of His people and will not be moved.
When he utters his voice, the earth melts.
He is with us and is our fortress!
....As King David cries out to God and reflects on His Words to understand His majesty we to will find that meditation helps us to understand the Words of God as we reflect and ponder on His ways.
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
And as we understand His Word more fully we find ourselves, through meditation, able to worship Him more fully and lift Him up.
1 O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
Such a God should be praised.
We serve a God that is for His people, not against. We are constantly shown throughout that He is faithful and that He isn’t going anywhere.
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
We are charged to be confident in the Lord. Rely on His strength and courage. Not to fear the things of this world because He is with us and will never leave us!
Another thing meditation does for us......it help us to REMEMBER.
5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.
How does one truly hide God’s Word in their heart...... It’s more than memorization. It’s reflecting on God’s Word, dwelling on it to the point it is ingrained in your soul and you cannot forget it.
We must stand in awe of his marvelous works and be still to know of His great truths.
We must stand in awe of his marvelous works and be still to know of His great truths.
Verses 8-11
When is the last time you truly stood in awe at the works of God? You may even be thinking you can’t recall ever standing in awe of God.
Well, we are told here to. ......BEHOLD THE WORKS OF THE LORD.
There is a great need in us… a people who are easily distracted, who are constantly ready for the next big thing to take a step back and reflect on the works of God.....OFTEN.
His works are worthy to be reflected on........Creation, His Faithfulness to His people, His Promises, His deliverance from Exile, the conquests over the enemies of Israel, the salvation that He brought to us through Jesus Christ. God throughout history has been on a life saving mission for His people since the fall of man. These are things worthy to reflect on. These are the great works of the Lord. Not to mention, His constant workings in your life personally each and every day.
These give us evidence of His care, protection and providential rule.
2 Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. 3 Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever.
John Calvin says that nothing is more profitable for believers than “to spend their lives in the celebration of the praises of God.”
When we meditate on His works we are reminded of His greatness which should humble us.
When we meditate on His works we are reminded of His greatness which should humble us.
We are also commanded to stop.....to BE STILL.
At the time when this Psalm was written the temptations had to be great. Chaos was surrounding them. The need to ally themselves with foreign powers and possibly to rely on solely military strength to defeat their enemies was great. But we know and they were being reminded that the Godly must learn to persevere to the end.
This call to be still was redirecting them from doing something else and that something is probably implied for us by verse 2.
Verse 2
“Therefore we will not fear..”
“Therefore we will not fear..”
We must recognize that we are not to fear what is going on around us and to be still and know that God is who He says He is.
7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
Are we being still?
Are we waiting patiently on Him to speak to us?
Are standing in awe of his marvelous works?
We must know who is in control of everything. That comes from reflecting on His word. To be still reminds me of an instance with Jesus in the Gospels.....
39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Like in this story, our lives are filled with chaos and He is shouting out to us- “Peace! Be Still! Have you still no faith?
Like the disciples realized, our God controls all and if we are to fear anything, we should have a healthy fear of the Lord.
Church, we must realize now more than ever to Be still. Acknowledge God and reflect on Him.
To mediate on the things of God leads us to fill ourselves fully with Him.
To mediate on the things of God leads us to fill ourselves fully with Him.
When it comes to free time or alone time, we as sinners have an incredible ability to get ourselves into trouble.
-Mountain Dew story
Our minds begin to wander, our thoughts begin to deceive us and before we know it we can be buying into the lies of the deceitful one.
God knows this of us. He knows what happens when we are alone. This is why He created us to be in community with others. But also this realization that we can’t always be with others and what we should know and understand when we are alone.
We see how Jesus himself dealt with alone time.
16 Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.
Jesus knew what his quiet times alone had to be. He needed to draw nearer to God. He needed to speak with Him and reflect on His qualities.
Why? Because of what God brings to us.
10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
God is the one that upholds us. Nothing else will, especially ourselves and that is what we get when we allow our minds to wander. When we allow our thoughts to go wherever.... we get inside our own heads and begin to believe the lies of the world and not the promises of God.
Paul gives these amazing words in Philippians 4:8-
8 Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.
We must dwell on the things of God!
Those are the things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, of moral excellence and praiseworthy.
When we dwell about our need of salvation it pushes us to be more like Christ.
This is a perfect time of year to reflect on Gods great works through His Son, Jesus. As we enter into Holy Week we are met with a moment in Scripture of great triumphant. The people wildly cheering, but yet not fully understanding. Psalm Sunday was a time of celebration.
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
The “red carpet” was laid of for Jesus but as many of us know and as we will see in the coming week, that moment was fleeting. As Jesus would eventually go on to die a death for sinners like you and me and allow us this free gift of eternal life if only we accept that He is the Way, the Truth, the Life.
It’s a lot like what we have been talking about this morning......Our need to understand the things of God. Salvation is a mystery, but yet oh so needed for us. We must dwell on His Word.
Closing
Closing
So, how do we dwell on the things of God?
We fill ourselves with His Word. We read it, we pray about it, we re-read it, we think about what it means, we talk about it.......
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
As we were shown last week, God reveals His will to us as we draw closer to Him. This happens as we allow our minds to be renewed with His thoughts.
But if we want to find the encouragement to fill ourselves with God’s Word we first must delight in it.
8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
Here’s the thing, when we delight in something. When we are passionate about something we think about it. It is on our mind.
And when we delight in it we will once again find our hearts are more able and ready to WORSHIP.
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Sin wants to keep us from delighting in God’s Word. We find ourselves not wanting to read, losing interest, too many other things to do..etc. As we meditate on God’s Word we allow our minds to be captivated by it and nothing else should want to hold our attention.
When we delight in Gods Word we think about it, we meditate on it, at times all throughout the day and night.
The easiest way to do this is to read God’s Word, take a core truth from that reading and think about it.
1. Maybe write it down.
2. Write it in your own words.
3.Ask how you are supposed to respond.
4. Pray about the text.
5. Take your time.
18 Open my eyes so that I may contemplate wondrous things from your instruction.
Whatever we fill ourselves with is what we will reflect. Which is why we must be consumed by the Word of God so that what flows from us is His truths......Not the things of this world.
Are you filling yourself with His truths?
Are you taking refuge in Him and His Word?
Are you praising Him daily?
Are you standing in awe of His great works?
Are you being still, dwelling in Him and recognizing He is Lord?
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Church, we must be dwelling in the Lord as His truths are what sustains us.