How to Meditate on the Word of God (vital steps)
Why meditate? How? These are the questions we must answer. My purpose here and now is to direct you to sources that will help you understand biblical meditation, while offering creative ideas to help you succeed. You first must understand biblical meditation is all about the Word of God.
You were intricately made by God. Unique and with a desire for Him. Life easily consumes us leaving many wondering if God even cares, or whether He’s there at all. In the hectic lives we find ourselves in, we must get back to a foundational truth: You are His, He is yours. Life consumes us but it’s unquestionable the Consuming Fire (Hebrews 12:29) will outweigh it all.
The Importance of Slowing Down (finishing)
Slow and steady wins the race right? At least that’s what the 500 BC fable written by Aesop has always taught us. And the principle is true, the issue is that of making everything into a race.
My question is, do you want to win or do you want to finish? Winning means there is a possibility of losing. Losing does motivate us to try harder to win, but the walk of faith isn’t about winning. It’s about finishing.
Finishing is precisely what the Tortoise was trying to teach us. But, as is typical of our desire to work things out in our own strength, we’ve focused on and made life a race rather than a journey. We got so focused on winning that we don’t even realize how we are losing. Or at least not until we’ve lost so terribly the consequences are tough to turn around.
This is why it’s important to slow down. ‘Why are we striving?’ A profound question by Tenth Avenue North in the song, ‘By Your Side.’ I’m not sure if they understand the impact of that song. But what is so amazing about that thought is exactly my point. So long as our eyes are on Jesus here and now, what we do and the impact from what is done will be great. Not because we are striving for it, but because we are surrendered to God.
Surrender doesn’t happen by accident. Fixing my eyes on Jesus doesn’t either. These are both things we put intention into. This is where effort comes in, but don’t get caught up in a rat race and the belief that it’s about you succeeding. Slow and steady gets you to the finish line, and that is exactly where you want to be (Matthew 25:23). At the finish we will hear the words ‘well done.’ Most important though is to hear the voice of God in the journey. And His voice comes in a whisper, you hear it only because you’ve slowed long enough to be attentive to it.
The benefits of Meditating on God’s Word (foundation)
If I gave you a piece of property and dropped off all the wood and hardware to build a house, would you succeed? Not likely. In fact, even the most seasoned builder would struggle because they know wood and hardware alone are not enough. Not for a house that will last. A seasoned builder would even know the proper steps to take, but without the excavation and a foundation, what are they going to build it on?
That’s the benefit of meditating on God’s Word. There are many ways to approach meditation. But if you’re meditating on half or no truth (or if you’re simply turning off your brain entirely) you’ll end up right back where you started. Jesus came that you may have abundant life (John 10:10). So where is that life?
Slow down and build a solid foundation on the Word of God. Life will come. The best foundation for all believers is to first understand Romans 5-8. This isn’t an easy task because Paul, I’m quite sure, had a ‘why use three words when fifty will do the trick’ mentality. This is often what halts us from digging in and building the proper foundation. We find it’s much easier to skip ahead and go the easy route in just believing what you’re being told.
Yes, there are some people you actually could listen to who will always guide you right. That’s not even my point, though you do need to have a basic understanding of heresy for sure. Otherwise you’re swept into any wind of teaching.
The point is though, even with the perfect mentor in your life, you are not saved by their faith. You are saved by your faith! They might be saying all the right things to which you can loudly agree, wonderful! But you need to own your faith. In fact, that’s why so many have a shaky foundation. Let’s just say that one person they had leaves. Maybe through death or worse, through disappointment. Where does that leave you? If you have a foundation, it leaves you standing on Christ, the Solid Rock. You will not be shaken.
Creating a Space for Time with God (focus)
Stepping away from others might make you feel like you’re being rude or anti-social. But even Jesus went often to a solitary place where He could focus (Mark 1:35). It is a necessity. I’m not one to say that you have to do your devotional time with God in the same place at the same time in the same way. It’s also fine if that works for you. If it does, do it. But also be willing to change things up. Maybe doing things the same way is the reason we are still struggling to get out of the rut we’re in!
Jesus clearly knew His mission. What goes along with knowing your mission is what we need to understand! A soldier has a sergeant, an athlete has a coach, a missionary has a mission agency or like a pastor, an advisory board. Jesus was God, but during His time on earth He knew the importance of staying in touch with the one who gave Him His mission.
God has called you, child of God. If you personally have surrendered your life to Him you’re on a mission from Him! Since we have a mission from God to ‘Go, and make disciples’ (Matthew 28:19-20), we ought to be in touch with the one giving the orders and the power to complete them. Pray!
Every person is unique so every person needs a unique atmosphere and context for learning. It could be at a coffee shop like I’m at now. Maybe it’s a secluded room in your house, it could be many (I have my office and then two more chairs with a different location in the house, and yet here I sit at a coffee shop). Whatever it is for you, identify what you need in order to seek the One who’s giving you life, new life, and a purpose. Once you figure it out, keep doing it often!
Understanding a Space is Not the Most Important (flexible)
You don’t always get to hide from others and focus. So you have to also recognize that with God there are no rituals, just a relationship. So maybe you’ll find that private space primarily when you’re on the move, like driving to work. Get there early and use audio books including the audio bible. That’s all just fine.
The point is to be flexible. Firstly, because God is always working. Every moment of every day He’s at work in one way or another. Sometimes He’s raising the dead, other times he’s turning water into wine and the drunks who are sucking it down have no clue. But in every detail, be flexible. In fact, make prayer a major part of your foundation because with that He will lead you into the right perspective and speak louder through His Word if you… ask.
Secondly, be flexible because life is flexible. If you can’t go with the flow, you’re going to be holding your ground while the ground is shaking. Props to you for the strength to hold on, but you’ll still be quite shaken. And God is the one that shakes us up at times. I would say that flexibility is a spiritual attribute. It is evidence of your trust in God. Just think about biblical examples like Job, Moses, the 12 Disciples.
Psalm 71:20 says, ‘You (God) have made me see troubles, both many and bitter.” That doesn’t seem fair does it? Be flexible. Think about the flexibility of God. What if He was completely fair with us? If God was completely fair we would all spend eternity in hell.
Overcoming Challenges (freedom)
There is not a one-size-fits-all walk to life and faith. Every person is unique and has unique challenges. Take a moment to think about your own immediate family. It’s interesting that spending those 18 or so years together can bring each of you to a different place in life. Likewise take five people that saw an accident and have them write up a report, you will get five different stories.
There is, however, one thing that all people have in common. They all want freedom. Not the high school graduate or the prison inmate type of freedom. That’s more a relief. What we have as children of God is freedom that brings us peace and a purpose. The hardships of adolescence and physical time in prison is the quest to find ourselves. In the process we have to forgive, mostly ourselves, for things we’ve done or didn’t do.
As a child of God we have freedom in our identity, not just our surroundings or desires of the heart, which is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). This is the greatest hurdle to jump because we’ve become accustomed and indoctrinated into believing we are who the enemy has said we are. Maybe within a dysfunctional family. Maybe because of a bully at school. Maybe it’s because we’re so bashful and never speak up. We believe what everyone else has said about us that wasn’t true.
However the shoe fits you. There is freedom! This is where we must begin by meditating on Romans 5-8. If it doesn’t make sense, read it again because it is the gospel message. It is the full grace message from God. You’ve been longing for it a long time.
Extra Resources to Understand Biblical Meditation
Knowing Jesus – a post about being saved. You cannot and will not understand the bible or how it relates to life until you have the Holy Spirit living in you. Jesus still saves.
DesiringGod.org – John Piper is renown for his writing and preaching from a scholarly biblical point of view. This link will take you to their post about bible meditation for beginners.
GotQuestions.org – a great resource for many biblical questions. This link will take you once again to our question for today, biblical meditation.
FocusOnTheFamily.com – another great resource for biblical guidance for the family. This link will take you to a post about ‘mindfulness.’
