Christian Meditation

Why doesn't the Bible seem to make much difference in my life?

Robert Saucy says, "The answer lies in the biblical teaching that life is lived from the heart and any change must take place in the heart.  For the word to have a transformative effect in our life, it must reach the depth of the heart and touch our whole person."

This echoes God's command to have his word in our hearts (Deuteronomy 6:6; Psalm 119:11). 

How does this happen?  Through meditating on the Bible.

Psalm 1:2 speaks of the blessings that come to the one who meditates on the Word of God like this: "...his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law [teaching] he meditates day and night."

The Psalmist goes on to say about this person, "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" (1:3).  Trees next to streams soak up plenty of water and grow big because of it.  They are strong, full and fruitful.

Christian meditation involves thinking deeply about what you are reading in the Bible, rehearsing, repeating and mulling over the Word of God.  Essentially, it involves reading with the realization that God is right there with you, what Saucy calls reading "relationally."

This counters our natural tendency to process information at light speed.  We swim in a torrent of TVs, iPods, YouTube, texting, Facebook, Twitter, eBay, eHarmony, eTrade, ESPN, etc., etc., etc., etc.  We're like crack hamsters on media treadmills.

But God invites us to come away from all that.  We need to escape all the media noise and get alone with God and his Bible if we want the blessings of Psalm 1.

"But I'm way too ADD to do that!" someone says.

Saucy notes that everyone meditates on something, because we are all passionate about something, whether motorcycles, bowling, politics, our girlfriend or boyfriend, Wii, or chocolate.

Our problem is our priorities.  We prioritize other things.  God deserves to be our priority, and he requires that we make him our priority, "for from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever.  Amen" (Romans 11:36).

And when you think about it, God is the smartest priority anyone could have.  He created us, he knows us, he redeems us, he sustains us, he fulfills us, he satisfies us, he guides us, he forgives us, he purifies us, he adopts us, he loves us, he rules us--indeed, he owns us!  He bought us with the blood of Christ.  Can you imagine getting more excited about your stamp collection or your spouse than the One who created you?

The reason we don't have fulfillment from our Bible reading is we aren't plunging the Word of God deep into our hearts through meditation.  Take time every day to read, and think about what you're reading.  Linger long over the Bible.