Psalm 119:148 – Meditating

My eyes stay open during the night
to meditate on your word.

It’s nice on the 148th day of a series of meditations to have a verse (really another verse) about meditating.

I will mention again what I said yesterday regarding the time and circumstances. Look for the time and place you can meditate. Don’t expect that you have to duplicate what is working for someone else. If you are getting a good night’s sleep, don’t imagine that your spirituality is substandard, and hope for sleep loss in order to be more holy.

There are some things that are important about meditating on God’s word. We often start and unfortunately also often stop with exegesis, with getting a historical understanding of the data. Knowing what various prophets or kings did in the far past is important, but it is most important as a foundation for understanding your present relationship with God and your present calling. That involves more than historical data.

For me the time reading the Bible is important to most other aspects of my life. It is a time when I can receive new light, when I pray, when I find strength for my next task, when I can feel God’s presence.

The history is important. We should always be anchored in what the text actually says and what it meant when first spoken. But as believers today, we need to understand the application to the moment. That often goes well beyond that historical study.

Here are some of those things I find are important:

1. There is no shortcut. It takes time. This is not just time to read reference works, but time to let the text sink in.
2. It takes both extensive and intensive reading. Don’t look down on the fast reader or on the one involved with nit-picky details. Both extremes have value. Try to incorporate different ways of approaching the text.
3. It is part of worship. Meditating on God’s word brings you closer to God.
4. It should be corporate, i.e., the study of the Bible should not be just about your individual time and your individual view. Test your results against what others learn.
5. It should be individual. While working with others is important, learning to hear from God yourself is also critical. Be tested by the crowd. Don’t be led by the crowd.
6. The Bible itself is more important than commentary. Put some emphasis on reading the Bible.
7. There is value in those who have studied before. Let them help expand your vision and understanding, but don’t let their views replace learning from the text yourself.
8. Have time for action. When you read about helping those less fortunate or about testifying to your faith in Jesus, you need to also pause to take action.

I love this Psalm. I’m enjoying every verse. But this set of meditations is just one approach.

What will you learn from scripture today?