Meditation

In our first blog post, you were encouraged from Psalm 1 to base your life on and to meditate upon Scripture. This invitation included the promise that, by doing so, you will truly flourish as a human being. Even in the midst of bleak circumstances and desert conditions, you can be like a tree whose leaves never wither and who’s spiritual fruit is yielded in season (Ps. 1:3). 

Returning to this particular text, we would do well to reflect on the nature of meditation. The flourishing human is one who “delights in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:2). What is meditation? The biblical concept of meditation is much different than what many understand meditation to be, in that it is often conceived as the pursuit of emptying the mind. In contrast, the biblical concept involves filling the mind with Scripture. J.I. Packer defines it as “prayerfully [reading] and [reflecting] upon Holy Scripture according to its intended meaning, with openness to personal spiritual direction from God.”

Such a practice would involve marinating in Scripture. Marinating is slow work. Some poultry can marinate for even up to 24 hours. For you vegetarians, I imagine tofu takes even longer because it tastes so bad. Similarly, marinating your mind in Scripture would take a slow, repetitive, gentle reading of Scripture. Read it over and over, reflecting on every word and phrase. It could also include memorizing. Reading and repeating a text over and over again, and thereby committing it to memory will help you return to it throughout the day. Which will help, lastly, with minding the text. We don’t simply meditate on Scripture to receive new information, but for the purpose of transformation. In it, we receive spiritual direction from God which we’re to apply to our lives. Is there a promise to trust, a statement to believe, or a commandment to obey? The text we’ve marinated in and memorized, ought to always lead to our minding what it says. 

And if we do marinate in, memorize, and mind the Scriptures, we can rest assured that even in the desert of this pandemic, we can bear spiritual fruit for our good and the good of our neighbors, and for the glory of God (For further reflection, read Psalm 1 and Galatians 5:16-26).

- Pastor Garrison Greene