A definition and some thoughts

I've always loved words - big words, small words, obscure words. Languages and communication are something that I have always devoted time to. One of my great downfalls though, is that I read a word, and figure it out from the context, and don't take the time to look it up, and understand what it really means. Or, sometimes there are words that are just so common that I don't ever think it important enough to look them up.

I was doing my quiet time tonight, and I started reading the book of John. I made it through all of six verses. I started thinking about the relationship between God and the Bible, and how intimately they are connected. This led to a look into my own life, and the unfortunate remembrance of all of the times I have not valued Scripture. My mind immediately jumped to the Psalms, and how much they mention meditating on the Word of God.

When I was a child, and I heard people talk about meditating on the Word of God, I always thought they were nuts. After all, meditation was something that you did when you were dressed up in a funny robe, in a dark room lit by lots and lots of candles, after eating an all natural meal that you had grown yourself. It wasn't something that Christians did. I have since come to realize that this isn't the case, but the word "meditate" fell into the category of words that were too common to look up.

So, tonight, I looked up the word. There are two basic types of meditation. There is the type that is thinking, studying, or reflecting on something. But there is also a type of meditation that is a little more practical. It is considering something that you are going to do. It is based in action, and it is a verb with an object.

I did a search of the Bible to see how the word meditate was used in there. There were quite a few results, but these were some of the more compelling ones to me personally.

Joshua 1:8
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.

Psalm 27:4-5
One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD
And to meditate in His temple.
For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.

Psalm 119:26-28
I have told of my ways, and You have answered me;
Teach me Your statutes.
Make me understand the way of Your precepts,
So I will meditate on Your wonders.
My soul weeps because of grief;
Strengthen me according to Your word.

Psalm 119: 147-148
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I wait for Your words.
My eyes anticipate the night watches,
That I may meditate on Your word.

We are supposed to constantly meditate on God's word, day and night, and to long for it so much that it is the first thing we think about in the morning, and the last thing at night. We are supposed to meditate in God's house, and we are supposed to meditate on God's wonders.

Especially with something like Proverbs 31, it will be very easy for me to get caught up in following that checklist of sorts. I could easily fall into the Benjamin Franklin system, and make a chart with a check box for each characteristic and each day, and work to be able to check them all off. But that isn't what it is about. In order to truly have lasting change, I think that I need to realize that meditation is going to be so much important.

If I don't hide God's Word in my heart, and if I don't meditate on Him like the Bible talks about, then I'm going to be stuck in the exact same rut I am now, with different spiritual names to put on it. This change has to come from the inside, and the only way to do that is to transform my thinking. And doing a little more meditation is probably not a bad place to start.