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Glory · The Word of God
Biblical meditation is not emptying the mind but filling it: a thoughtful, prayerful dwelling on the word of God, chewing it over until it sinks from the head into the heart and shapes the life. The psalmist delights in the law and meditates on it day and night, and the blessed man is 'like a tree planted by the streams of water.' Meditation is how the word we read becomes the word we live.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/what-does-it-mean-to-meditate-on-scripture · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Psalm 1:1-3
As you read: The blessed man delights in God's law and meditates on it day and night, like a tree planted by the streams of water.
1Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;
2but his delight is in Yahweh’s law. On his law he meditates day and night.
3He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalm 119:15-48
As you read: A psalm of heartfelt love for God's word: meditating on His precepts, statutes, and wonders.
15I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways.
16I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word.
17Do good to your servant. I will live and I will obey your word.
18Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law.
19I am a stranger on the earth. Don’t hide your commandments from me.
20My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.
21You have rebuked the proud who are cursed, who wander from your commandments.
22Take reproach and contempt away from me, for I have kept your statutes.
23Though princes sit and slander me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.
24Indeed your statutes are my delight, and my counselors.
25My soul is laid low in the dust. Revive me according to your word!
26I declared my ways, and you answered me. Teach me your statutes.
27Let me understand the teaching of your precepts! Then I will meditate on your wondrous works.
28My soul is weary with sorrow: strengthen me according to your word.
29Keep me from the way of deceit. Grant me your law graciously!
30I have chosen the way of truth. I have set your ordinances before me.
31I cling to your statutes, Yahweh. Don’t let me be disappointed.
32I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free.
33Teach me, Yahweh, the way of your statutes. I will keep them to the end.
34Give me understanding, and I will keep your law. Yes, I will obey it with my whole heart.
35Direct me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in them.
36Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain.
37Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.
38Fulfill your promise to your servant, that you may be feared.
39Take away my disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.
40Behold, I long for your precepts! Revive me in your righteousness.
41Let your loving kindness also come to me, Yahweh, your salvation, according to your word.
42So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in your word.
43Don’t snatch the word of truth out of my mouth, for I put my hope in your ordinances.
44So I will obey your law continually, forever and ever.
45I will walk in liberty, for I have sought your precepts.
46I will also speak of your statutes before kings, and will not be disappointed.
47I will delight myself in your commandments, because I love them.
48I reach out my hands for your commandments, which I love. I will meditate on your statutes.
Joshua 1:1-9
As you read: God tells Joshua to let the book not depart from his mouth, meditating on it day and night, that he may be careful to do all that is written.
1Now after the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh, Yahweh spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying,
2“Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you, and all this people, to the land which I give to them, even to the children of Israel.
3I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses.
4From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.
5No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.
6“Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
7Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.
8This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.
9Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed: for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.”
1 Timothy 4:11-16
As you read: Paul urges Timothy to devote himself to the reading, teaching, and meditating on the word, that his progress may be evident.
11Command and teach these things.
12Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity.
13Until I come, pay attention to reading, to exhortation, and to teaching.
14Don’t neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the elders.
15Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all.
16Pay attention to yourself, and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
Philippians 4:8-9
As you read: Believers are to fill their minds with what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and praiseworthy.
8Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.
9The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Unlike the world's meditation, biblical meditation is not a blanking of the mind but a deliberate filling of it with the word of God. The psalmist speaks of meditating on God's precepts and considering His ways, delighting in the law and pondering it day and night. Jesus' mother Mary 'kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.' It is the slow, thoughtful chewing of Scripture until it saturates the mind and heart.
“I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways.”Psalm 119:15
“but his delight is in Yahweh’s law. On his law he meditates day and night.”Psalm 1:2
“But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.”Luke 2:19
Meditation grows out of love. The psalmist cries, 'How I love your law! It is my meditation all day,' and 'I reach out my hands for your commandments, which I love. I will meditate on your statutes.' The blessed man's delight in the law is the soil in which his pondering grows, 'like a tree planted by the streams of water.' We do not meditate because we must, but because we treasure the word.
“How I love your law! It is my meditation all day.”Psalm 119:97
“I reach out my hands for your commandments, which I love. I will meditate on your statutes.”Psalm 119:48
“but his delight is in Yahweh’s law. On his law he meditates day and night.”Psalm 1:2
“He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.”Psalm 1:3
Meditation carries the word from the page into the walk. God told Joshua to let the book not depart from his mouth, meditating on it day and night, 'for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.' Biblical meditation is aimed at doing: the word is pondered so it can be obeyed. David even links it to life change, praying, 'Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law.'
“This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.”Joshua 1:8
“Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law.”Psalm 119:18
“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”Psalm 119:11
Paul tells Timothy to be devoted to the Scriptures, to 'pay attention to reading, to exhortation, and to teaching,' and to be diligent in these things, giving himself wholly to them, that his progress may be evident to all. Meditation is not a gift only for the spiritually mature; it is a practice to be learned, a discipline of pausing over the word, asking what it says, what it means, and how it changes us.
“Until I come, pay attention to reading, to exhortation, and to teaching.”1 Timothy 4:13
“Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all.”1 Timothy 4:15
A life is shaped by what it dwells on. Paul urges us to think about whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, and then names the result: 'the God of peace will be with you.' The psalmist says the man who meditates on the word is blessed and fruitful, and David's desire to hide the word in his heart was so that he might not sin against God. What we meditate on steadily, we become.
“Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.”Philippians 4:8
“The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”Philippians 4:9
“He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.”Psalm 1:3
“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”Psalm 119:11