Spiritual Disciplines I: Meditation

I have decided to post a series of thoughts on the Christian disciplines. The purpose of this series is to highlight those disciplines that have been historically associated with Christianity - to explore their Biblical nature and expose their practical constitution. The foundation of any relationship is communication, and all of the spiritual disciplines involve communication, but I thought Bible reading should be the first discipline discussed.

Psa 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;

And yet, while the discipline of Bible reading is perhaps not as disciplined or normative as it should be in many believers, it still remains the most basic obvious means of grace in the believer's life. It's close counterpart, however, is often left out in the cold. I am speaking, of course, of meditation.

What is Biblical Meditation?
Good question! much of the confusion and reluctance surrounding meditation results from our several uses of the term. Biblical meditation is nothing like the self-abnegating paganism of New Age spirituality (which has been adopted by some professed Christians, by the way).

Biblical meditation is bringing one's whole being to focus on God, His person and works.

Now we see why meditation is inseparable from daily Bible reading. It is the Bible that tells us of God's person and works. So what does this look like? First, you have to read the Bible. It is not legalism to establish a disciplined pattern of reading God's word anymore than it is legalism to establish a disciplined pattern of taking blood-pressure medication. John Piper said something like this in one of his sermons. We must, we must, discipline ourselves spiritually to the point where we are daily feeding on God's word. Now this is a great start, because it is through God's word that we learn of God's person and work(s). But Bible reading is not some magic pill that will mystically transform you into the ubergeistmench. The other half of disciplined Bible reading is meditation.

Meditation involves three things:
1. Understand what the text is saying
2. Understand how that applies to your life
3. Meditate on what this tells you about God's person and work

Understand what the text is saying
Most of the Bible is straightforward - if you pay attention to what you read you will "get it". But you may need to read large chunks of Scripture to get the context and really understand what is being said. When a prostitute is chopped up and mailed around Canaan in Judges, it only makes sense when you read the whole context - the people have gone out of their way to break their covenant with God, instead doing what was right in their own eyes. God is teaching us about how ignoring his precepts leads to gross sin and amorality.

Understand how the text applies to your life
Continuing the above example, we might learn that if we ignore our (new) covenant with God, or ignore his precepts in order to do what is "right in our own eyes", we too could fall into gross sin and amorality.

Meditate on what this tells you about God's person and work
Psa 77:12 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Psa 119:15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
Psa 119:48 I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.
It is very important at this point to understand that the object of meditation is not yourself. It is God and his works. Notice the psalms above, and we see the psalmists meditating on the following:

1. God's work and mighty deeds
2. God's precepts and ways
3. God's commandments and statutes

While carefully reading and meditating on Scripture will always reveal something about ourselves, and while it is important to see this (as in step two), the focus of our meditation is NOT on ourselves, or even on how the Bible might be applied in our lives. Our meditation is on the Lord. The aspects of the Lord that we meditate on can be divided essentially into God's person, God's works, and God's laws. The purpose of meditating on God is to turn our mind - to deliver us from depression, despondency, grief, fear, and sin through a knowledge of God. Hence Psalm 77, which demonstrates just this in the life of Asaph.

It may also help you to jot down some notes as you read and meditate. What are the attributes of God that you see in the text? What works or mighty deeds? What commands or laws? This may help you order and discipline both your devotional reading and meditation.

What do you need to practice Christian meditation?
A Bible, a pad of paper and a pencil should suffice. Yeah, that's right, I am not recommending you use a devotional guide or commentary. If you find hard parts in the text, just set them aside for now, and go on the rest of the meat. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Finally my brethren
Meditation is tied up in Bible reading, but it is also tied up in Scripture memory. Indeed, most of the Christian disciplines feed off of each other, so in my next post I will talk about Scripture memory.

For further reading see Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moises Silva, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Mich.: 1994