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SUBJECT: Meditating in His Word
SCRIPTURE SETTING:
Psalms 1:2 – But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
I. The Blessed Man is one who has learned that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7
A. Paul is very specific about what we should think about. Philippians 4:8
Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
B. The promises of God to those who keep their thoughts on and about God are plain, simple and greatly to be desired. Isaiah 26:3-4
Isaiah 26:3-4 – Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
(4) Trust ye in the LORD forever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
II. To meditate (from the English Dictionary)
A. To reflect upon, to consider with thoughtful consideration.
B. To ponder; to weigh mentally, consider carefully.
1. Ponder suggests painstaking care and thoroughness.
C. To contemplate; to view with sustained attention, gaze at thoughtfully for a noticeable time.
D. [Strong’s Concordance-Hebrew definition]: A primitive root; to murmur (in pleasure or anger); by implication to ponder: – imagine, meditate, mourn, mutter, roar, X sore, speak, study, talk, utter.
III. The commentator, Matthew Henry, said that “To meditate in God’s word, is to discourse with ourselves concerning the great things contained in it, with close application of mind and fixedness of thought…until we be suitably affected with those things, and experience the flavor and power of them in our hearts.”
A. “Discourse with ourselves…” Psalm 4:4, 39:3, 145:5
Psalms 4:4 – Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
Psalms 39:3 – My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spoke I with my tongue,
Psalms 145:5 – I will speak of the glorious honor of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.
B. “The great things contained in them…” Psalm 139:17-18
Psalms 139:17-18 – How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
(18) If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
C. “Til we be suitably affected with those things…” Psalm 119:97-100, 119:59, I Timothy 4:13-16, Psalm 104:34
Psalms 119:97-100 – O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
(98) Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
(99) I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
(100) I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
Psalms 119:59 – I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
1 Timothy 4:13-16 – Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
(14) Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
(15) Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
(16) Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
Psalms 104:34 – My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.
D. The commentator, Adam Clarke said of our verse here in Psalm 1, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord – [ ???? chephtso], his will, desire, affection, every motive in his heart, and every moving principle in his soul, are on the side of God and his truth. He takes up the law of the Lord as the rule of his life; he brings all his actions and affections to this holy standard. He looketh into the perfect law of liberty; and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word; and is therefore blessed in his deed. He not only reads to gain knowledge from the Divine oracles, but he meditates on what he has read, feeds on it; and thus receiving the sincere milk of the word, he grows thereby unto eternal life. This is not an occasional study to him; it is his work day and night. As his heart is in it, the employment must be frequent, and the disposition to it perpetual.
E. In Psalms: the Treasury of David the Charles Spurgeon writes, “And now mark his positive character. “His delight is in the law of the Lord.” He is not under the law as a curse and condemnation, but he is in it, and he delights to be in it as his rule of life; he delights, moreover, to meditate in it, to read it by day, and think upon it by night. He takes a text and carries it with him all day long; and in the night-watches, when sleep forsakes his eyelids; he muses upon the Word of God. In the day of his prosperity he sings psalms out of the Word of God, and in the night of his affliction he comforts himself with promises out of the same book. “The law of the Lord” is the daily bread of the true believer.”
IV. The Blessed Man knows the value of stillness and being quiet in being able to hear from God. Numbers 9:8, I Samuel 9:27, I Samuel 12:7, Job 37:14, Psalm 46:10
Numbers 9:8 – And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you.
1 Samuel 9:27 – And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still a while, that I may show thee the word of God.
1 Samuel 12:7 – Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers.
Job 37:14 – Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.
Psalms 46:10 – Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
V. The promises of God to those who meditate in His Law. Isaiah 30:15, Joshua 1:1-9
Isaiah 30:15 – For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
Joshua 1:1-9 – Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spoke unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
(2) Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
(3) Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
(4) From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
(5) There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
(6) Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I swore unto their fathers to give them.
(7) Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
(8) This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
(9) Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
