When was the last time you spent fifteen minutes just thinking about God?
You know what I’ll say next: For many of us, our lives are so busy, so full of things to do and people to see, that we often can’t imagine taking a quarter of an hour to meditate on our Lord. When can we fit that into an otherwise packed schedule? That line of thinking affects even how we talk about “spending” time, as if it were money – and everybody knows there’s only so much money to spend before it runs out. The same is true of time! Right?
Sometimes you can find interesting factoids about how often specific words are used in the Bible. When I searched through the NIV for words like “meditation” and “meditate,” I was surprised to find that sixteen of the eighteen times the Bible mentions meditation are in the book of Psalms. (That may be of interest to those of you who are currently in our new women’s Bible study group, which is focusing on a group of Psalms together.) The other two times are (a) in Genesis 24:63, when Isaac is waiting to meet his new bride Rebekah, and (b) in Joshua 1:8, when God is calling Joshua to be the new leader of the Israelites after the death of Moses.
All of the other mentions of meditation in the Bible have to do with people meditating on God’s laws, decrees, wonders, works, and so forth. From early on in the history of God’s people, they knew that life was not complete unless they took time to remember, reflect, and give thanks for all that God is and all that God does.
Friends, is meditation part of your regular spiritual diet? Do you frequently allow your mind to wander in the vast expanse of God’s love? Do you use something so valuable – your daily allotment of time – in such a way that keeps you connected to the God who gave that time to you? Do you pause to remember the great sacrifice and great victory that we have in Jesus’s death and resurrection?
I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD. (Psalm 104:33-34, NIV)
–Pastor David