Meditation: Culture vs. His Word
by Audrey Howie
When I first heard about meditation, it came from culture…and I pictured people sitting, humming “ohmm” for a long time, trying to reach a state of nothingness. Praise God that is not what meditation looks like for followers of Jesus! Far from reaching nothingness, we draw closer to our personal God who desires to be near us, to reveal Himself to us, to guide us in our daily lives.
Meditation can happen in multiple ways. We can think upon God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. We can consider the specific attributes of each person of the Godhead. We can remember specific instances of the faithfulness of our Lord. We can still ourselves, quieting our hearts in the presence of the Lord and resting in Him. Being still with the Lord is an especially challenging discipline in our go-go-go culture; but it allows us to breathe deeply, growing more aware of our body and our surroundings and actively trusting that God is in control. He is able to take care of everything without our help, yet He welcomes us to join Him in His kingdom work—what grace!
Reading Scripture with the heart is another great form of meditation. We open up God’s Word and read, allowing Him to highlight a verse or a passage He wants us to focus on. I’m currently reading through a few chapters of the Gospel of John each week. The stories aren’t new; however, the verses the Holy Spirit draws my mind to focus on may be different than before. I ask, “Why, Lord? What do You want me to notice here? And what does that mean for me—what do You want me to do based on this truth? How can I more fully obey You?” And as the Lord leads me through thoughts and nudges in my spirit, I seek to faithfully obey. I have done many Bible studies and have learned much through them. However, the intimacy with the Lord I experience as He meets me in His Word—just the two of us—has transformed my heart to be more tuned into His heart and I love this time with Him!
We can also meditate on Scripture as we memorize passages of Scripture. I began intentionally memorizing Scripture 15 years ago through an online challenge extended by Bible teacher Beth Moore. As I say the words over and over, I have the opportunity to meditate on the meaning behind the words. This is especially helpful in understanding long, complex sentences with many phrases and/or clauses (like much of Paul’s letters!). As I meditate, I can break down phrases and boil them down to a basic thought or command that I can grasp…then I can put all the other details back and have a better understanding that I can follow to obedience. Once verses are memorized through meditation, much of this deeper understanding comes back to me as I keep reviewing the Scriptures. I even feel a great tenderness from the Spirit as I remember the time originally spent learning the passages. It amazes me how much our brains can hold when we challenge them…and how quickly the Lord can enable us to memorize when the material is honoring to Him!
Perhaps you’ve had experience with one or all of these forms of meditation. In my life, the Lord has grown me in each of these areas at different times of my faith journey. In different seasons I’ve focused more on one than the others. And there was a season that I set Scripture memory aside completely. Not purposely, but some health challenges threw my schedule out of whack, and I struggled to get the motivation to jump back in. I knew it was work. But I had also experienced the benefits. Praise God for His patience! In the last year I have returned to meditating on God’s Word through Scripture memory and He has strengthened me greatly through it.
What about you? Perhaps you’ve never stepped into the practice of meditation. Maybe because it’s never been modeled for you, or maybe because you don’t know where it will lead. I encourage you to wade into these waters and I promise that the Holy Spirit is a trustworthy guide! Perhaps you have been blessed through meditation in the past but set it aside because life got busy, and schedules were in upheaval. Sometimes we have seasons where all we can do is cling to God in prayer and trust Him to carry us through. But as He carries us and then walks alongside us and we become stronger, may we choose to practice once again the ways of Jesus: sitting in stillness with the Father, feasting on His Word, strengthening our muscles through obedience, relying more fully on God through fasting and being reminded of the Father’s love and purposes for us through mediation.
