WORD: Meditate

Psalm 1:1–3 CSB

How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

INTRO—

[Scripture memorization—Psalm 1.1-3]

Memorizing…Hearing…Reading…Studying…Meditating...

How do these all relate? [Have a cup of tea…]

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life Meditating on God’s Word—Benefits and Methods

A simple analogy would be a cup of tea. You are the cup of hot water and the intake of Scripture is represented by the tea bag. Hearing God’s Word is like one dip of the tea bag into the cup. Some of the tea’s flavor is absorbed by the water, but not as much as would occur with a more thorough soaking of the bag. In this analogy, reading, studying, and memorizing God’s Word are represented by additional plunges of the tea bag into the cup. The more frequently the tea enters the water, the more effect it has. Meditation, however, is like immersing the bag completely and letting it steep until all the rich tea flavor has been extracted and the hot water is thoroughly tinctured reddish brown.

Today, let’s talk about steeping…uh, meditating.

The Bible Says...

Psalm 1.1-3 “How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

[Meditates “day & night”; will be like a flourishing tree]

Psalm 119.97-99 “How I love your instruction! It is my meditation all day long. Your command makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me. I have more insight than all my teachers because your decrees are my meditation.”

[Meditation “all day long”; makes one wise, insightful]

Joshua 1.8 “This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.”

[Meditate “day & night,” “not depart from your mouth”; for blessing and success (as defined by our LORD) in life]

Philippians 4.8 “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.”

[Meditate “dwell on”; truth, honor, just, pure, lovely, commendable, moral excellence, praiseworthy = “We behave what we believe”]

1 Timothy 4.15 “Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all.”

[Meditate “practice”; cultivate habits… (v. 6)– “nourished by the words of the faith,” “the good teaching you have followed.”]

MEDITATION = Deep, continual thinking on the truth revealed in the Bible (Esp. verses at hand)

Not = chanting syllables or emptying one’s mind, etc.

WE, Therefore...

Choose to STEEP!

Deuteronomy 6.5-9 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.”

…By doing some of the following...

Emphasizing Different Words or Phrases in the Verse(s) as You Read and Re-Read

[in a sense the Hebrew & Greek words related to meditation care the idea of musing, murmuring, muttering…similar to ‘worrying’…so, worry Bible verses!; Psalm 23.1; John 3.16; Jude 24;

Rewriting the Verse(s) in Your Own Words

[paraphrasing; I encourage checking it with someone; be faithful to the context, not what you want it to say]

Asking How the Verse(s) Relate to the Gospel

[or meta-narrative of the Bible]

Praying through the Verse(s)

[possibly utilize some of the ‘verse in your own words’; apply the principle to you & seek God’s help to grow in the living of the truth]

Finding a Link (Common Thread) Between the Phrases or Verses

[follow the progression of the thought]

Placing a Copy of the Verse(s) on Your Mirror, Fridge, Dashboard

[like the doorposts & gates of Deut. 6]

Sharing the Verse(s) with Someone Else

[via call, text, email, meeting]

CONCL--

Meditation, like lingering by a fire...

[D. Whitney, p. 49]— Imagine that you’ve been outside on an icy day and then come inside where there’s a hot, crackling fire in the fireplace. As you walk toward it, you are very cold. You stretch out your hands to the fire and rub them together briskly during the two seconds it takes to walk past the glow and the warmth. When you reach the other side of the room, you realize, ‘I’m still cold.’

Is there something wrong with you? Are you just a second-class “warmer upper?”

No, the problem isn’t you; it’s your method. You didn’t stay by the fire. If you want to get warm, you have to linger (stay) by the fire until it warms your skin, then your muscles, then your bones until you are fully warm.

Why do I want us to steep…to stay by the fire?

Colossians 3.16 “Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

Colossians 3.17 “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Philippians 4:8 CSB

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.