Meditate

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” Joshua 1:8

Meditate – Go sit under a lotus blossom tree!  Now what do you do?    When we think of “meditate”, we often think of Eastern mystics, contemplating “nothingness” from the inner spirit when sitting in Buddha poses.  Sorry, that isn’t what “meditate” means.

The Hebrew root behind this word is yada, the word for “know”.  In the form here (da’ ath) the word has an important nuance.  It is not just contemplation of all the knowledge that has been taught by God.  It is not just thinking about wisdom or instruction.  It is the process of allowing God’s tora to settle into your mind and heart so that you act on the truth.  It is thinking in order to obey.

The great preacher Charles Stanley says this about meditation:  “When we read a Bible passage, no matter what the subject matter is, we should lift that word back up to heaven, showing our heavenly Father we are in agreement with what He has said.”  Mediation is active knowing.  It is converting information and instruction into doing what the law of God asks us to do.

There is nothing passive about this kind of meditation.  It is not contemplating your existence or the vast reaches of the universe.  It is allowing God’s instruction to alter who you are and what you do.  Meditation becomes nothing more than idle speculation if it does not result in action.  The purpose of meditating is to do something.

So, go sit under a lotus blossom tree.  But don’t stay too long.  You have things to accomplish.  Things God has given to you to do.  If you are really meditating, you will discover that God calls you to obey.  You will need to get up and go.  And meditate all the way to the next act of obedience.

One in 24:  My prayer today will be, “Father, help me to move from contemplation to action.  Help me transform thought into deed.”

(verse continued tomorrow)