Dwelling on the Lord

Opening

Quiet Game/Focused Exercise

What is your view of meditation?

What Christian mediation is not-

I’m gonna share 4, but the list could definitely go on.

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- Movement started many years ago. 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

Psalm 119:15 ESV15 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.

What do you think the world’s idea of meditation is?

Likewise- what do you think the biblical idea of meditation is?

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.

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.

Read Psalm 46

Verses- 1-3As 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.”

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?

Jeremiah 5:22 ESV22 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.

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 in 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.

Verses- 4-7

Psalm 48:1 ESV1 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 think on His ways.

Psalm 119:27 ESV27 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.

Isaiah 25:1 ESV1 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.

Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV6 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.

Anyone ever forget something?

Even after you were just told?

Psalm 143:5 ESV5 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.

Verses 8-11

When is the last time you truly stood in awe at the works of God? Have you ever?

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.

What is the last thing you were impressed with?

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.l 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.”

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..”

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.

Psalm 37:7 ESV7 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 you taking time to be still?

Are you waiting patiently on Him to speak ?

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.....

Mark 4:39–41 ESV39 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.

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.

Luke 5:16 CSB16 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 gives to us.

Isaiah 41:10 ESV10 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-

Philippians 4:8 CSB8 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.

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.......

Romans 12:2 ESV2 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.

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.

Psalm 40:8 ESV8 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.

Psalm 1:2 ESV2 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 the Bible, 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.

Psalm 119:18 CSB18 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?

Psalm 1:1–3 ESV1 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.

We must be dwelling in the Lord as His truths are what sustains us.