Meditating on the Bible

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:59

Today we're going to be talking about meditating on God's word. We're going to look at two passages of scripture. The first will be from Psalm 1, and the second from Joshua chapter 1. Let's look at Psalm 1, verse 1 to 3. 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. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 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. These verses show us what a blessed life looks like, and they show us how we can experience that life for ourselves. The blessed man described in these verses is planted, productive, and prosperous. Listen again to Psalm 1 and verse 3. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, productive, and its leaf does not wither, and all that he does prospers. Whenever I read Psalm 1, verse 2 and 3, I'm reminded of the formula for success that God gave Joshua when he was commissioned to lead God's people into their inheritance, into the promised land. We read this in Joshua chapter 1 and verse 8. It says, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success. We all want our lives to be marked by success. We all want to be successful. In fact, I've never met anyone who wants to be a failure in life. Now we saw the key to success given to Joshua was to meditate on God's word. Today we will ask and answer four questions about meditating on the Bible. They are what, why, when, and how. So question one. What does the Bible mean by meditate? When the Bible uses the word meditate, it's referring to the practice or habit of focusing your thoughts on God as revealed to us through the Bible. It means to think about, to ponder upon God and His ways, His works and His Word, as revealed to us in the scriptures. Let's have a look at selected verses from the Psalms that encourage us to meditate on God's ways, his works, and his word. It means to think about and to ponder upon God, his ways, his works, and his word as revealed to us in the scriptures. Question number two: Why should we meditate on the Bible? Now we saw in Psalm 1 verse 3 and in Joshua 1 verse 8 that meditating on the Bible leads us to a blessed life. We see that we must choose to delight ourselves in and meditate upon God's word. I know that we all want to experience this blessed life. And Psalm 1 verse 2 gives us the key to unlocking this kind of life. It says we should delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on his law day and night. Now, this is in contrast to Psalm 1 verse 1, which tells us what we should not do, and that is to look to negative people for direction in life. Counsel in this verse means advice, wisdom, or guidance. It shows us that if we start doing that, we'll develop bad habits. And as we look at this verse again, consider the progression of walk, stand, and sit as we become entrenched in bad habits. Psalm 1, verse 1 says, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. Another reason we should meditate on God's word is because it leads to application in our lives, which in turn leads to success. Let's look at how Joshua chapter 1, verse 8 puts it. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. So that, notice, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success. We should meditate on God's word so that we can live a life that pleases God, and the result will always be blessing and success. Question number three: When should we meditate on the Bible? Well, continually. We see both in Psalm 1 verse 2 and Joshua 1 verse 8 that we should meditate on God's word day and night. We also see in Psalm 119 the same concept, day and night. In Psalm 119, verse 97, the psalmist says, Oh how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. And then in Psalm 119, verse 148, My eyes are awake before the watches of the night that I may meditate on your promise. This speaks to me about cultivating a habit of meditating on God's word. It's something we should do consistently as a lifestyle. Question number four: How do we meditate on the Bible? Well, there are four R's that we can do that will help us to meditate on God's Word. They are read, record, reflect, and respond. Step one is to read. Now it's not how much you read, but it's how regularly you read that counts. We don't read the Bible to learn more about the Bible. We read the Bible to learn more about God. There are two starting points. First, as part of your regular reading through the Bible, and the second is looking for a promise that applies to a challenge or an opportunity that has cropped up in your life. I think that it's important for us to make sure we find promises from God's word that we can stand on. Step number two is to record. Write down the verse that you've read and what you feel God is saying to you through that verse. You could use a notebook or even use the notes function on your phone. When you write down the verse, it helps you to remember it and what God is saying to you through it. If you develop this as a habit, you'll often find that when something unexpected happens in your life, you can go back to your notes and you will find that God has given you promises and spoken to you already about the things that you are facing. Step number three is to reflect. And this is a process of thinking about, pondering upon, even talking with others about what you have read and seen and discovered in the Bible. Take time to pray over these verses and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to you. It's very important for us to grow in our faith and to gain wisdom, and we do this by reflecting on what we've read. Finally, step number four is to respond. What do you think the Holy Spirit is telling you to do as a result of your time in God's Word? Are there things you need to do? Are there actions that you need to take? Our time in God's Word should ultimately lead to life application. Live, give, forgive. What's God saying to you through what you are reading? Like Joshua 1 verse 8 says, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success. So we've seen how we can meditate on God's word, read, record, reflect, and respond. As we close, I think it would be good for us to look at Psalm 1 and Joshua chapter 1 again. Psalm 1 verse 3 talks about the blessed person. It says, He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and all that he does, he prospers. Wonderful. How do we experience this kind of life? Well, the Bible tells us in Psalm chapter 1 and verse 2, his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. And then in Joshua chapter 1, verse 8, it says, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success.