God gives us his Word, but we have to use it. We have to practice biblical meditation. When I use the word meditation, I am not talking about sitting in a yoga position and chanting “ommm.” You don’t need transcendental meditation or yoga or any of those other techniques based on Eastern religions. Stay away from them. Meditate on God’s Word. Read through the book of Psalms and see how many times David speaks of meditating on God’s Word.

In Psalm 1 we read, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.” In other words, that person doesn’t get his input from the wrong sources. “But his delight is in the law of the LORD [the Bible], and on his law he meditates day and night.” As a result, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers” (emphasis added).

God says that when we meditate on his Word day and night, we will bear fruit. We will be fruitful, productive people — people full of love, joy, peace, patience, and the rest of the fruit of the Spirit. He also says we will prosper. There are two great promises in Scripture about success; one of them is Psalm 1, and the other is Joshua 1:8. Both say that the key to success is meditating on God’s Word.

What, then, does it mean to meditate on God’s Word? If we look up the word meditation in a dictionary, we find that a synonym is the word rumination. Rumination is what a cow does when she chews her cud. A cow eats some grass, chews up all she can, then swallows it. It sits in one of her stomachs for a while, and then a little bit later she burps it up — with renewed flavor. The cow chews on it some more and swallows it again. This continues for all four stomachs. That’s rumination. The cow is straining every ounce of nourishment from the grass. Meditation is thought digestion.

Meditation does not mean that you put your mind in neutral and think about nothing. Meditation is thinking seriously about what you are reading. You take one verse and ask, “What does this mean for my life?” Talk to yourself about it, and talk to God about it. — God’s Power to Change Your Life by Rick Warren

 

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