Hello everyone!
I have not been posting here very often lately, but I am trying to get back on track slowly. I just posted a reflection on some music that is gospel related at my other site. I would encourage you to check it out.
More later. Michael
I ran into a great quote today by Keller on the topic of prayer and I wanted to share it with you.
“Jesus always gives you what you would have prayed for if you knew everything He knows.”
Michael
Maybe we need to back up a bit and give a simple definition of meditation as we continue. Here is Keller’s definition or summary of what meditation actually is.
“Meditation on the Scriptures is pondering, relishing, imagining, applying and rehearsing God’s truth until it becomes real to the heart and permanently affects your attitude and behavior.”
From Gospel Christianity Course 2 page 32.
How does that do for a start? We often think about meditation as thinking on Scripture, turning it over in our minds like a cow chewing its cud. I think that is a helpful way to think about it, but I think Keller has helped us to go a bit further. What I like about this definition is the stated goal of meditation. We should meditate so that…
1. Truth becomes real to my heart.
2. My attitude and behavior are affected permanently.
What great goals! The first is more of a tasting of God and His goodness in Scripture and the second is that the truth of God changes us. It has to! My life will be different.
Now, Keller connects meditation to prayer and reading in the following way. He calls meditation a “middle practice which bridges between reading and prayer.” I think his point is this. As I read, it becomes difficult to pray over what I have just read unless it becomes part of me. If I meditate like we described above, that will inform and change my prayers.
Personally I struggle with prayer if I am not reflecting on some part or aspect of Scripture. When I pray and do not think about Scripture, I tend to say the same things and fall into the same ruts. How many times have you prayed and afterwards noticed that you said the same things that you had the day before? This happens often to me when I pray to thank God for my meals. I go into default mode and often did not think about what I was saying. I was on auto pilot. This is why Scripture helps my prayers. If I have been meditating on some portion of Scripture, I am thinking about and affected by many things God is saying, so I can pray about those things.
If these things are something you have struggled with in the past or still struggle with, I would suggest the following messages by Don Whitney. I have listened to them over and over and they have helped me to think about meditation and prayer through Scripture in a very healthy way. Check out these three messages here.
Back tomorrow with more if God desired me to be. ☺ James 4:13-17
Michael
Meditation is “the descent of the mind with truth into the heart, until our whole being yearns for God.” This quote comes from Peter Toon as quoted in Gospel Christianity Course 2.
Great quote, but what does it mean?
Too often I have read Scripture and studied through it in such a way as to get it into my mind and not necessarily into all of my life. This quote reminds me that meditating on Scripture should help me to take truth into my mind and into my heart in such a way that I will long for God with the psalmist.
Psalm 42:1 says, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.” ESV
Psalm 63:1 says, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” ESV
Do I long for God like this? Most of the time I do not, but I am convinced that if I am meditating on God’s amazing word, I will yearn for the One who wrote it. Meditation will help me to take my learning into my heart, which includes the head, but also so much more.
Now, there is much confusion about this word “heart.” I think Valentine’s Day is to blame!
When I say the word “heart,” you probably think about emotions, right? I know I did and most people do. The problem is that Scripture does not use heart this way most of the time.
Psalm 40:8 says, “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” ESV Could this mean that he hid God’s word in his emotions? I don’t think so.
Deuteronomy 30:6 says, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” ESV What about this one? Do you think the emotions are what God is going to circumcise?
The fact is that heart means many things in Scripture, but most often it includes emotions as well as your thought process (mind) and your will (decision making). It is much more than these things, but it often includes all of them. I would suggest that the heart is actually the center of who you are. It is your core, so if something penetrates to the core of who you are, it will affect everything. Whatever is in our hearts we will naturally think about and act on. Whatever is actually in our heart will ultimately drive us. It will produce actions and emotions. It can’t help doing that. Whatever is in our hearts will pop into our minds constantly and even color everything else in our lives. Now do you see why it is so important for Scripture to penetrate our hearts and lives to this degree? I plead with you to resist the temptation to think “emotions” alone when I say heart.
So, do you long to have the truth of Scripture settle into your heart? Meditation can help the process. It will be work, but it will change you. Isn’t that what we all want—to be changed by God and His word?
Join us tomorrow as we continue looking at meditation.
Michael
As I stated yesterday, I have been having a hard time in Scripture lately. It is not that I lack a desire to be in Scripture, but rather that my time has been rather random. I have jumped around and landed at different places for a short time, but I have not stuck anywhere. This must stop! I have decided that one of the better ways to challenge what I have been doing is to think through meditation, specifically meditation on the word. There is good precedence that we should be meditating on God Himself and even His works in creation, but I think I need to focus on the word for a time. I hope you will join me in this pursuit.
To help me in my study, I have enlisted Dr. Tim Keller. He has written some pdf files that are available here called Gospel Christianity 1, 2 and 3. They are worth the price you must pay (if you are part of Crossroads, contact me before you buy a copy) and I am going to slowly walk through chapter 2 of course 2 called “How do I meet Jesus myself?” This chapter walks through meditation, so it will directly apply to my battle mentioned above.
As we get started, I would love to hear about how you “meditate” or “reflect” on Scripture in your own lives.
Well, if you choose to join me on this journey, I look forward to your helpful comments. Please pray with me that God will work in us so that we treasure Him as we should.
Until tomorrow…
Michael
“So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.” Verse 4
Knowing God like David does means you will praise Him your whole life. You can’t help but praise Him. I really do want to know God like this! There is either something wrong with me or something wrong with the way I have been thinking about God since I do not praise or bless Him always. I will fail and must rely on the gospel even here. As I said in the previous post, Jesus died for my lack of praise too. Even so, I long to know God like this psalm describes.
“Lifting my hands”
This is a little more difficult for me. Why am I so hesitant to have outward actions show my affections toward God? The challenge is that even though I know God does not “require” certain outward motions, I also know that my attitude must change. Since they are not required, my response is then I don’t have to do them. That is not the right attitude. Why am I so hesitant?
Now, none of this means I must physically express myself every time, but what it does mean is that I should ask myself why I don’t want to express myself outwardly. Is there something I must change in my thinking? For me there is. For David, raising his hands was a natural expression of his affections. How do I express mine?
“Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” Verse 3
Praise is meant to be a natural outworking of treasuring or valuing Christ. If I truly believe that God’s love is better than life, I will end up praising Him. I wouldn’t be able to stop myself. Do I praise Him? Do I just break out into praise at times?
What does praise actually look like? I think I often limit what praise must look like. Is it singing? Is it falling on my knees and acknowledging my dependence? Is it closing my eyes? This is my problem. I tend to think about praise in visual terms rather than a heart crying out in joy to the One he treasures. I can be totaly silent and still praise or I can be completely expressive in a variety of ways and still not be praising.
It is about the heart, but not strictly about the emotions. I tend to get those two confused. If I am praising from the heart, often emotions will be expressed, but they are not required. I think that is a topic for another reflection later. Back to the Psalm.
Sometimes I act as if God does not deserve praise. I wish I thought of it in such stark terms as that since it might shake me out of that sin. Other times I get so caught up in life that I ignore God. Sure, I pray at meals and talk about God (since I am a pastor I must do these things 
), but functionally I act like He is not involved and deserving of all my allegiance. How can I change that? How can I be focused on who God is and how much I need Him all the time?
The “funny” thing is that there are many things in life that remind me I need Him, but typically I complain about them and pout until they go away, not letting them drive me to my God. Thankfully the gospel is true and even my lack of love toward God is paid for, freeing me from God’s righteous wrath.I am perfectly accepted even while I fail. This is the amazing gospel and it just makes me more thankful, drawing me back to praise. He is infinitely worthy of all my praise.
What is my response to all this? First, I must seek to praise Him. I must set things in my life that remind me of who wonderful He is, how worthy He is of all praise. Second, I must ask God to help me with my lack of praise. The fact is that I need Him so much that I can’t even praise as I should. Now that is humbling.
“So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.” Verse 2
What does this have to do with the previous verse? It seems to me that David is thinking back to when he did see God. He is explaining how he can continue to praise God and trust Him, longing for Him this way even when enemies are coming against him. That is what I want. I want to be able to praise God and long for Him even when things are not going well. In fact, that might be the time I need Him most. David would have gone to the sanctuary to see God. It was an actual location where God showed up. Sometimes I just wish there was some location I could go to see God. Those are my foolish days.
David would go to where he could see God. How can I do the same thing? As I have thought more about this, I realized this is a major theme that runs through Scripture from cover to cover. We want and need to be with God. Adam and Eve, before the fall, were with God in Eden. After that God had Moses and company build a tabernacle. After that came the temple. With both of these, there was a location within them where God actually dwelt called the Holy of holies. Later in the book by Ezekiel, we read that God left the temple. That was a sad day for Israel, but it was not the end. All of this prepares us for John 1:14
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” ESV
Do you know what this means? Jesus “tabernackled” with us. He dwelt with us. Do I want to see God? Look to Jesus! Jesus shows us the power and glory of God. He shows us everything we need to see about God. What a privilege.
How can I prepare to face hard times and still long for God like David does here? I must look to Jesus. I must savor Jesus and all the He is. I must value Jesus more than any other comfort that I might receive. Often I struggle with this because the other things I turn to are more tangible than Jesus, but that is simply unbelief. I must trust His promises. He has an impeccable track record. I want to meditate on Jesus so much that I can see and remember His glory and power.
Here are a few passages to reflect on in this process.
“my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” verse 1
Still here and it is good that I am.
This section is wonderful since it shows that David’s longing is not just in the immaterial (soul) part of him, but rather David’s whole being is caught up with who God is. Every part of him screams out to be satisfied in Him. It is as if David is dying of thirst and God Himself is the only one that can satisfy that longing.
I must admit that this is not my experience. What should I do?
As I think about reasons I do not long for God like David does, I ask myself a couple of questions. Perhaps these will be helpful for you as well.
“earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you;” verse 1
Personally I still want to wrestle with this section of Scripture as I see the need in my own life for the truth of this passage. I do not earnestly seek Him as I should and it is because I do not see Him for who He is.
Does my soul long for God, hurt with desire like my body would if I desperately needed a drink? Thirst is a natural desire that cannot be denied. We simply cannot go without water. Do I think this way about God? I need to. He is everything. He keeps me alive every moment of every day.
What exactly does earnest seeking look like? As I shared in church a couple weeks ago, I think of two main ideas. The first is a movie illustration. Every romance basically shows at least one person longing to be with another person so much that they feel they cannot live without them. Isn’t the seeking shown in these movies a good example of earnest seeking? The problem many have with this is that after you get married, you settle into a relationship that is less than exciting and “seeking.” Every Christian has an initial experience of seeking and loving God like we seek a potential mate, but often we settle into something less. God is better than this and deserves more. He can and does satisfy every need we have. We should always be seeking Him with earnestness.
The second illustration hits home with me more. Kohl is currently 2 years old and I started thinking what would happen if he got lost in the mall or in downtown Greenville. How would I seek him? Do I really even need to answer that question? I would seek him with everything I had. My earnestness would be tangible for everyone to see.
So, do I seek God with this much earnestness? He is infinitely worth it! Why wouldn’t I seek Him this way? What must I do in my own life to pursue God this way? Now that is a good question.