Revived by the Fires of Meditation
“One evening … Isaac was taking a walk out in the fields, meditating” (Genesis 24:63).
When life’s break neck pace slows my wife and I at times binge watch episodes of some series on Netflix. The mindlessness is nice. Enjoying each other’s company the best. But I cannot say I actually feel refreshed after binge watching 4 episodes of Bridgerton.
Entertained? Definitely. Teased to watch another episode? Okay. But invigorated and made new to face life again? Ah, no. Adding another 20 minutes sitting in silence scrolling on i-phones seated next to each other before going to bed isn’t the undiscovered elixir of life either.
Yet, we Americans are becoming increasingly addicted to these two activities - watching TV and or scrolling on our i-phones - not just when life slows for some fun but almost around the clock. One has to wonder, what in the world did we do after dark on lonely nights before we had pixelated devices? And is there a better past time for actually enhancing your life?
Well, to go way, way back look at what Abraham’s promised son did, however often, after dinner, “Isaac went to meditate in the field toward evening” (Genesis 24:64). Can you see Isaac? Pacing in a field with empty hands. His eyes are wide open to the LORD’s three-dimensional world - with a screen far more amazing and enriching than our modern pixels: his imagination alive on God.
Meditation on God is a lost art today and I challenge you to take it up. When is the last time you took a single Bible passage and mulled it over all day long? Beyond a Paul Tripp devotional or Time of Grace video learn to “revive yourself by the fires of meditation” as Thomas Watson liked to say. But Pastor Tim, I am not a meditative type of person. You don’t have to be.
A. CHRISTIAN MEDITATION IS SUSTAINED THINKING ON GOD: My mind is like - to use a wonderful image from Henri Nouwen – “a banana tree filled with monkeys constantly jumping up and down.” Have you been there thought like that? Move beyond it by taking a single Bible passage or two to think on in your relation to God all day off and on. Select them before you go to bed. Pray over them and wake up saying and applying to your life all day.
You see, in Scripture meditation is likened to a young lion growling over its prey or a cow chewing its cud. Meditation is not meant to be esoteric or spooky. It merely implies sustained attention. Godly meditation is built on this simple principle: What the mind repeats it retains.
So for example take Psalm 1:1 for your meditative verse of the day: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.” LORD you promised I will be happy many times over if I don’t compromise my convictions. Today I will stand up for what is right. Today I will not join in the gossip or project myself esteem off others. Today I find value in Jesus - his forgiveness, grace, and promised blessing. In fact, look at Psalm 1:3. “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers.” Planted. Fruitful. Unwithered. Prosperous. All these and more will be mine. To mentally binge on these in the LORD all day in and out - now we are talking about renewal.
B. CHRISTIAN MEDITATION HAS AS ITS PURPOSE TO CONNECT YOU RIGHTLY TO GOD. One year at Mt. Olive Lutheran grade school we had a Bible passage memorization contest involving some tickets for the Kansas City Royals. The tickets went to the student who could accurately memorize the most Bible verses in the month of May. Miss Hyne indicated behind each student’s name on the chalk board how many Bible passages each of us had recited to her with crosses. No one wanted those tickets more than I did. I needed those tickets.
Eventually it came down to a very smart girl and myself. By sheer determination I kept it close on the chalk board but in the end it became obvious to all in plain white chalk crosses she would win. I found myself meditating on this thought: What could I do about Carolyn Heitsch? So I killed her.
At least in my mind I did, over and over. She was taking from me what I desperately wanted and embarrassing me in the process. Never mind all those amazing Bible passages meant to teach me how to draw nearer to God, to love others more deeply. You see, to meditate on God’s Word, “to hide it in our hearts” is incredibly life giving but only if it serves the divine purposes of “that I might not sin against you” and “growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ.”
C. CHRISTIAN MEDITATION WON’T HAPPEN WITHOUT INTENTION. Larry McMurtry, known for his book Lonesome Dove, wrote another book about roads - the many roads he had driven on and the hundreds of miles he had explored across America. At last, returning in memory to the place where he grew up in east Texas, he recalls that his father had seldom gone much farther than the dusty roads near his dirt farm. Comparing his own travels to his father’s localized life, McMurtry admits, “I have looked at many places quickly. My father looked at one place deeply.”
This can be you - “a one place deeply” person in the LORD. But like Isaac you have to factor time into your life for thoughtfulness on God. Isaac had many things competing for his attention like you. In the context he was about to marry a woman he had never met! Think that might occupy one’s mind (Genesis 24:63)? Always there will be the immediate and in our age the social media vying for our attention. But in the fields and fires of meditation on the LORD through the Word of God alone will be found revival. Take up the challenge, my friend - meditate on the LORD.