Biblical Meditation: Listening for and Contemplating the Word of the Lord
What follows is a true story.
A missionary received a visitor who poured out all his troubles. The missionary said, “Let us be still – and wait on the Lord. He has the answer for every problem.” So they sat together in silence. Finally, some clear convictions of how wrong he was in the way he was living came to the visiting man, with a real sense of repentance. The missionary shared many things in his own life when Christ gave him the victory, and he told the man, “All men are created equal. Any man can have the victory of Christ if he ‘listens’ and ‘obeys’.”
The man did listen to what the Holy Spirit said to him. He surrendered his life to Christ, obeying Him, and as the people of the village saw him change – giving up adultery, drinking, gambling, swearing – all were amazed at the power of God to change such a man. And they, also, sought the power of God for their lives.
“Wait”… “be still”… “listen”… Then “attend” to the words the Lord gives you, as the Bible says in Proverbs 4:20-22. Let the Lord steer you to Scripture. Keep those words “in front” of “your eyes” and “in the midst of your heart”. Write them down. Mull them over. Revisit them. “For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh”. This is a wonderful promise of God!
The Bible says, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). It says, “Commune (meditate) with your own heart upon your bed, and be still” (Psalm 4:4). We are to “still” our anxious, busy thoughts, and let God speak to us. This is most frequently in the “still small voice” he demonstrated to the prophet Elijah, not in the wind, earthquake, and fire, as Elijah seemed to expect (1 Kings 19:11-12).
Prayer involves a focus on listening to God, as taught by Jesus in Matthew 6:6. He says to “shut the door” (to external and internal distractions) and to encounter “your Father who is in secret” and “who sees in secret” – in other words, a “hidden” place of spiritual reality. This spiritual, listening aspect of “prayer beyond words” is further clarified in Romans 8:26, describing how prayer goes beyond our thoughts when it says that “the Spirit intercedes for us” with “groanings that cannot be uttered” because “we know not what we should pray”.
The Bible encourages us to “meditate” in His Word “day and night” (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:1-3), as this is deeply rewarding, leading to “good success” in the most important sense of meaning. The Bible says to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) – having a constant and rewarding awareness of God’s presence and guidance. How do we make this happen? Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). This is a lifestyle of listening to and obeying the Triune God.
All around us, in the life He has made for us, are opportunities to hear His voice – as we look and listen with spiritual eyes and ears tuned in by faith and led by the instructing and correcting guidance of Scripture, learning to discern Him among the cacophony of competing noises.
The Bible says, “I will meditate in Thy precepts, and contemplate (have respect unto) Thy ways” (Psalm 119:15). It says, “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands” (Psalm 143:5). Notice, biblical meditation includes meditating on God’s creation.
As the hymn says it:
“This is My Father’s world, and to my listening ears,
All nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres…
This is my Father’s world, He shines in all that’s fair.
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass, He speaks to me everywhere.”
– M. Babcock, 1901
Meditating on, contemplating, and listening to the living and written Word of God, as well as His ways and works, are biblical keys to the Christian life!
– Mark Cadwallader, Board Chairman of Creation Moments
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